Adaptive service subscription management

ABSTRACT

A system, method, and computer-readable medium for performing a data center monitoring and management operation. The data center monitoring and management operation includes: selecting a service subscription to manage; monitoring asset resource utilization of the service subscription; generating an adaptive service subscription schedule recommendation; and, managing the service subscription based upon the adaptive service schedule recommendation.

BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION Field of the Invention

The present invention relates to information handling systems. Morespecifically, embodiments of the invention relate to performing a datacenter system monitoring and management operation.

Description of the Related Art

As the value and use of information continues to increase, individualsand businesses seek additional ways to process and store information.One option available to users is information handling systems. Aninformation handling system generally processes, compiles, stores,and/or communicates information or data for business, personal, or otherpurposes thereby allowing users to take advantage of the value of theinformation. Because technology and information handling needs andrequirements vary between different users or applications, informationhandling systems may also vary regarding what information is handled,how the information is handled, how much information is processed,stored, or communicated, and how quickly and efficiently the informationmay be processed, stored, or communicated. The variations in informationhandling systems allow for information handling systems to be general orconfigured for a specific user or specific use such as financialtransaction processing, airline reservations, enterprise data storage,or global communications. In addition, information handling systems mayinclude a variety of hardware and software components that may beconfigured to process, store, and communicate information and mayinclude one or more computer systems, data storage systems, andnetworking systems.

SUMMARY OF THE INVENTION

In one embodiment the invention relates to a method for performing adata center monitoring and management operation, comprising: selecting aservice subscription to manage; monitoring asset resource utilization ofthe service subscription; generating an adaptive service subscriptionschedule recommendation; and, managing the service subscription basedupon the adaptive service schedule recommendation.

In another embodiment the invention relates to a system comprising: aprocessor; a data bus coupled to the processor; and a non-transitory,computer-readable storage medium embodying computer program code, thenon-transitory, computer-readable storage medium being coupled to thedata bus, the computer program code interacting with a plurality ofcomputer operations and comprising instructions executable by theprocessor and configured for: selecting a service subscription tomanage; monitoring asset resource utilization of the servicesubscription service; generating an adaptive service subscriptionschedule recommendation; and, managing the service subscription basedupon the adaptive service schedule recommendation.

In another embodiment the invention relates to a computer-readablestorage medium embodying computer program code, the computer programcode comprising computer executable instructions configured for:selecting a service subscription to manage; monitoring asset resourceutilization of the service subscription; generating an adaptive servicesubscription schedule recommendation; and, managing the servicesubscription based upon the adaptive service schedule recommendation.

BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF THE DRAWINGS

The present invention may be better understood, and its numerousobjects, features and advantages made apparent to those skilled in theart by referencing the accompanying drawings. The use of the samereference number throughout the several figures designates a like orsimilar element.

FIG. 1 shows a general illustration of components of an informationhandling system as implemented in the system and method of the presentinvention;

FIG. 2 shows a block diagram of a data center system monitoring andmanagement environment;

FIG. 3 shows a functional block diagram of the performance of a datacenter monitoring and management operation;

FIG. 4 shows a simplified block diagram of an asset allocation systemimplemented to allocate data center asset resources to a plurality ofworkloads;

FIG. 5 is a simplified process flow diagram showing the performance ofdata center asset allocation operations;

FIG. 6 shows an example screen presentation of a user interface (UI)implemented to allocate certain data center asset resources to optimizea workload;

FIG. 7 shows a simplified block diagram of a plurality of assetallocation systems implemented within a hybrid cloud environment;

FIG. 8 is a simplified process flow diagram showing the performance ofdata center asset resource allocation operations within a hybrid cloudenvironment;

FIG. 9 shows an example screen presentation of a UI implemented toallocate data center asset resources to optimize a workload within ahybrid cloud environment;

FIG. 10 is a functional block diagram showing the reallocation of datacenter asset resources;

FIG. 11 is a simplified process flow diagram showing the performance ofdata center asset resource reallocation operations;

FIG. 12 shows an example screen presentation of a UI used to reallocatedata center asset resources to load balance a plurality of associatedworkloads;

FIG. 13 shows an example screen presentation of a UI used to graphicallydepict the results of reallocating data center asset resourcesassociated with a plurality of associated workloads;

FIG. 14 shows a simplified block diagram of a data center monitoring andmanagement console implemented to adaptively manage a servicesubscription;

FIG. 15 is a simplified process flow diagram showing the performance ofadaptive service subscription management operations; and

FIG. 16 shows an example screen presentation of a user interface (UI)implemented to adaptively manage a service subscription.

DETAILED DESCRIPTION

A system, method, and computer-readable medium are disclosed forperforming a data center system monitoring and management operation.Various aspects of the invention reflect an appreciation that it iscommon for a typical datacenter to monitor and manage many differentassets, such as certain computing and networking devices, described ingreater detail herein. Certain aspects of the invention likewise reflectan appreciation that such data center assets are typically implementedto work in combination with one another for a particular purpose.Likewise, various aspects of the invention reflect an appreciation thatsuch purposes generally involve the performance of a wide variety oftasks, operations, and processes to service certain workloads.Accordingly, various aspects of the invention reflect an appreciationthat efficient and effective monitoring and management of certain datacenter assets may assist in optimizing the availability, performance,and reliability of the services offered by a data center.

Certain aspects of the invention likewise reflect an appreciation that awide variety of cloud computing services are offered on a subscriptionbasis from several cloud providers. However, these service subscriptionsare not adaptive to the over, or under, utilization of their associateddata center asset resources by an associated workload. Moreparticularly, the cost of such service subscriptions are typically basedupon an upper cap of the resources allocated to the servicesubscription.

Likewise, certain aspects of the invention reflect an appreciation thatusers of a service subscription may utilize their allocated data centerasset resources on an annual basis, yet the resource consumption of manytypes of workloads may vary greatly over the course of a year. As anexample, there may be seasonal fluctuations, such as a specialty storewebsite receiving more traffic around holidays. Likewise, certainaspects of the invention reflect an appreciation that subscribers may berequired to choose a service subscription that meets the maximumresource requirements they may have over a certain period of time toavoid outages, and as a result, may pay more than necessary.

While the user may have the option of upgrading or downgrading the termsof the service subscription, it lacks awareness of how its allocatedresources are being utilized. Accordingly, the configuration of the datacenter asset resources allocated to the service subscription is static,and there is no way to adaptively manage the resources according tochanging usage patterns other than manually adding and removingresources. As a result, the subscriber may be paying for resources thatare underutilized, or conversely, there may be unanticipated demands onresources that may cause slow response times, service outages, and loweruser satisfaction.

For purposes of this disclosure, an information handling system mayinclude any instrumentality or aggregate of instrumentalities operableto compute, classify, process, transmit, receive, retrieve, originate,switch, store, display, manifest, detect, record, reproduce, handle, orutilize any form of information, intelligence, or data for business,scientific, control, or other purposes. For example, an informationhandling system may be a personal computer, a network storage device, orany other suitable device and may vary in size, shape, performance,functionality, and price. The information handling system may includerandom access memory (RAM), one or more processing resources such as acentral processing unit (CPU) or hardware or software control logic,ROM, and/or other types of nonvolatile memory. Additional components ofthe information handling system may include one or more disk drives, oneor more network ports for communicating with external devices as well asvarious input and output (I/O) devices, such as a keyboard, a mouse, anda video display. The information handling system may also include one ormore buses operable to transmit communications between the varioushardware components.

FIG. 1 is a generalized illustration of an information handling system100 that can be used to implement the system and method of the presentinvention. The information handling system 100 includes a processor(e.g., central processor unit or “CPU”) 102, input/output (I/O) devices104, such as a display, a keyboard, a mouse, a touchpad or touchscreen,and associated controllers, a hard drive or disk storage 106, andvarious other subsystems 108. In various embodiments, the informationhandling system 100 also includes network port 110 operable to connectto a network 140, which is likewise accessible by a service providerserver 142. The information handling system 100 likewise includes systemmemory 112, which is interconnected to the foregoing via one or morebuses 114. System memory 112 further comprises operating system (OS) 116and in various embodiments may also comprise a data center monitoringand management console 118. In one embodiment, the information handlingsystem 100 is able to download the data center monitoring and managementconsole 118 from the service provider server 142. In another embodiment,the data center monitoring and management console 118 is provided as aservice from the service provider server 142.

In certain embodiments, the data center monitoring and managementconsole 118 may include a monitoring module 120, a management module122, a user interface engine 124, and an asset allocation system 126, ora combination thereof. In certain embodiments, the data centermonitoring and management console 118 may be implemented to perform adata center monitoring and management operation. In certain embodiments,the data center monitoring and management operation may be performedduring operation of an information handling system 100. In variousembodiments, performance of the data center monitoring and managementoperation may result in the realization of improved monitoring andmanagement of certain data center assets, as described in greater detailherein.

FIG. 2 is a simplified block diagram of a data center monitoring andmanagement environment implemented in accordance with an embodiment ofthe invention. As used herein, a data center broadly refers to abuilding, a dedicated space within a building, or a group of buildings,used to house a collection of interrelated data center assets 244implemented to work in combination with one another for a particularpurpose. As likewise used herein, a data center asset 244 broadly refersto anything tangible, or intangible, that can be owned, controlled, orenabled to produce value as a result of its use within a data center. Incertain embodiments, a data center asset 244 may include a product, or aservice, or a combination of the two.

As used herein, a tangible data center asset 244 broadly refers to datacenter asset 244 having a physical substance, such as a computing ornetwork device. Examples of computing devices may include personalcomputers (PCs), laptop PCs, tablet computers, servers, mainframecomputers, Redundant Arrays of Independent Disks (RAID) storage units,their associated internal and external components, and so forth.Likewise, examples of network devices may include routers, switches,hubs, repeaters, bridges, gateways, and so forth. Other examples of atangible data center asset 244 may include certain data centerpersonnel, such as a data center system administrator, operator, ortechnician, and so forth. Other examples of a tangible data center asset244 may include certain maintenance, repair, and operations (MRO) items,such as replacement and upgrade parts for a particular data center asset244. In certain embodiments, such MRO items may be in the form ofconsumables, such as air filters, fuses, fasteners, and so forth.

As likewise used herein, an intangible data center asset 244 broadlyrefers to a data center asset 244 that lacks physical substance.Examples of intangible data center assets 244 may include software,firmware, and other non-physical, computer-based assets. Other examplesof intangible data center assets 244 may include digital assets, such asstructured and unstructured data of all kinds, still images, videoimages, audio recordings of speech, and other sounds, and so forth.Further examples of intangible data center assets 244 may includeintellectual property, such as patents, trademarks, copyrights, tradenames, franchises, goodwill, and knowledge resources, such as datacenter asset 244 documentation. Yet other examples of intangible datacenter assets 244 may include certain tasks, functions, operations,procedures, or processes performed by data center personnel. Those ofskill in the art will recognize that many such examples of tangible andintangible data center assets 244 are possible. Accordingly, theforegoing is not intended to limit the spirit, scope or intent of theinvention.

In certain embodiments, the value produced by a data center asset 244may be tangible or intangible. As used herein, tangible value broadlyrefers to value that can be measured. Examples of tangible value mayinclude return on investment (ROI), total cost of ownership (TCO),internal rate of return (IRR), increased performance, more efficient useof resources, improvement in sales, decreased customer support costs,and so forth. As likewise used herein, intangible value broadly refersto value that provides a benefit that may be difficult to measure.Examples of intangible value may include improvements in userexperience, customer support, and market perception. Skilledpractitioner of the art will recognize that many such examples oftangible and intangible value are possible. Accordingly, the foregoingis not intended to limit the spirit, scope or intent of the invention.

In certain embodiments, the data center monitoring and managementenvironment 200 may include a data center monitoring and managementconsole 118. In certain embodiments, the data center monitoring andmanagement console 118 may be implemented to perform a data centermonitoring and management operation. As used herein, a data centermonitoring and management operation broadly refers to any task,function, procedure, or process performed, directly or indirectly,within a data center monitoring and management environment 200 toprocure, deploy, configure, implement, operate, monitor, manage,maintain, or remediate a data center asset 244.

In certain embodiments, a data center monitoring and managementoperation may include a data center monitoring task. As used herein, adata center monitoring task broadly refers to any function, operation,procedure, or process performed, directly or indirectly, within a datacenter monitoring and management environment 200 to monitor theoperational status of a particular data center asset 244. In variousembodiments, a particular data center asset 244 may be implemented togenerate an alert if its operational status exceeds certain parameters.In these embodiments, the definition of such parameters, and the methodby which they may be selected, is a matter of design choice.

For example, an internal cooling fan of a server may begin to fail,which in turn may cause the operational temperature of the server toexceed its rated level. In this example, the server may be implementedto generate an alert, which provides notification of the occurrence of adata center issue. As used herein, a data center issue broadly refers toan operational situation associated with a particular component of adata monitoring and management environment 200, which if not corrected,may result in negative consequences. In certain embodiments, a datacenter issue may be related to the occurrence, or predicted occurrence,of an anomaly within the data center monitoring and managementenvironment 200. In certain embodiments, the anomaly may be related tounusual or unexpected behavior of one or more data center assets 244.

In certain embodiments, a data center monitoring and managementoperation may include a data center management task. As used herein, adata center management task broadly refers to any function, operation,procedure, or process performed, directly or indirectly, within a datacenter monitoring and management environment 200 to manage a particulardata center asset 244. In certain embodiments, a data center managementtask may include a data center deployment operation, a data centerremediation operation, a data center remediation documentationoperation, or a combination thereof.

As used herein, a data center deployment operation broadly refers to anyfunction, task, procedure, or process performed, directly or indirectly,within a data center monitoring and management environment 200 toinstall a software file, such as a configuration file, a new softwareapplication, a version of an operating system, and so forth, on a datacenter asset 244. As likewise used herein, a data center remediationoperation broadly refers to any function, task, procedure, or processperformed, directly or indirectly, within a data center monitoring andmanagement environment 200 to correct an operational situationassociated with a component of a data monitoring and managementenvironment 200, which if not corrected, may result in negativeconsequences. A data center remediation documentation operation, aslikewise used herein, broadly refers to any function, task, procedure,or process performed, directly or indirectly, within a data centermonitoring and management environment 200 to retrieve, generate, revise,update, or store remediation documentation that may be used in theperformance of a data center remediation operation.

In certain embodiments, the data center monitoring and managementconsole 118 may be implemented to receive an alert corresponding to aparticular data center issue. In various embodiments, the data centermonitoring and management console 118 may be implemented to receivecertain information associated with the operation of a particular datacenter asset 244. In certain embodiments, such operational informationmay be received through the use of telemetry approaches familiar tothose of skill in the art. In various embodiments, the data centermonitoring console 118 may be implemented to process certain operationalinformation received from a particular data center asset to determinewhether a data center issue has occurred, is occurring, or isanticipated to occur.

In certain embodiments, the data center monitoring and managementconsole 118 may be implemented to include a monitoring module 120, amanagement monitor 122, a user interface (UI) engine 124, and an assetallocation system 126, or a combination thereof. In certain embodiments,the monitoring module 120 may be implemented to monitor the procurement,deployment, implementation, operation, management, maintenance, orremediation of a particular data center asset 244 at any point in itslifecycle. In certain embodiments, the management module 122 may beimplemented to manage the procurement, deployment, implementation,operation, monitoring, maintenance, or remediation of a particular datacenter asset 244 at any point in its lifecycle. In various embodiments,the UI engine 124 may be implemented to generate a UI for the provision,or receipt, of certain information associated with the monitoring, ormanagement, of a particular data center asset 244. In variousembodiments, the asset allocation system 126 may be implemented toperform a data center asset allocation operation, described in greaterdetail herein.

In certain embodiments, the data center monitoring and managementenvironment 200 may include a repository of data center monitoring andmanagement data 220. In certain embodiments, the repository of datacenter monitoring and management data 220 may be local to theinformation handling system 100 executing the data center monitoring andmanagement console 118 or may be located remotely. In variousembodiments, the repository of data center monitoring and managementdata 220 may include certain information associated with data centerasset data 222, data center asset configuration rules 224, data centerinfrastructure data 226, data center remediation data 228, and datacenter personnel data 230.

As used herein, data center asset data 222 broadly refers to informationassociated with a particular data center asset 244, such as aninformation handling system 100, which can be read, measured, andstructured into a usable format. For example, data center asset data 222associated with a particular server may include the number and type ofprocessors it can support, their speed and architecture, minimum andmaximum amounts of memory supported, various storage configurations, thenumber, type, and speed of input/output channels and ports, and soforth. In various embodiments, the data center asset data 222 maylikewise include certain performance and configuration informationassociated with a particular workload, as described in greater detailherein. In various embodiments, the data center asset data 222 mayinclude certain public or proprietary information related to data centerasset 244 configurations associated with a particular workload.

In certain embodiments, the data center asset data 222 may includeinformation associated with data center asset 244 types, quantities,locations, use types, optimization types, workloads, performance,support information, and cost factors, or a combination thereof, asdescribed in greater detail herein. In certain embodiments, the datacenter asset data 222 may include information associated with datacenter asset 222 utilization patterns, likewise described in greaterdetail herein. In certain embodiments, the data center asset data 222may include information associated with the allocation of certain datacenter asset resources, described in greater detail herein, to aparticular workload.

As likewise used herein, a data center asset configuration rule 224broadly refers to a rule used to configure a particular data centerasset 244. In certain embodiments, one or more data center assetconfiguration rules 224 may be used to verify that a particular datacenter asset 244 configuration is the most optimal for an associatedlocation, or workload, or to interact with other data center assets 244,or a combination thereof, as described in greater detail herein. Incertain embodiments, the data center asset configuration rule 224 may beused in the performance of a data center asset configurationverification operation, a data center remediation operation, or acombination of the two. In certain embodiments, the data center assetconfiguration verification operation, or the data center remediationoperation, or both, may be performed by an asset configuration system250. In certain embodiments, the asset configuration system 250 may beused in combination with the data center monitoring and managementconsole 118 to perform a data center asset configuration operation, or adata center remediation operation, or a combination of the two.

As used herein, data center infrastructure 226 data broadly refers toany data associated with a data center infrastructure component. Aslikewise used herein, a data center infrastructure component broadlyrefers to any component of a data center monitoring and managementenvironment 200 that may be involved, directly or indirectly, in theprocurement, deployment, implementation, configuration, operation,monitoring, management, maintenance, or remediation of a particular datacenter asset 244. In certain embodiments, data center infrastructurecomponents may include physical structures, such as buildings, equipmentracks and enclosures, network and electrical cabling, heating, cooling,and ventilation (HVAC) equipment and associated ductwork, electricaltransformers and power conditioning systems, water pumps and pipingsystems, smoke and fire suppression systems, physical security systemsand associated peripherals, and so forth. In various embodiments, datacenter infrastructure components may likewise include the provision ofcertain services, such as network connectivity, conditioned airflow,electrical power, and water, or a combination thereof.

Data center remediation data 228, as used herein, broadly refers to anydata associated with the performance of a data center remediationoperation, described in greater details herein. In certain embodiments,the data center remediation data 228 may include information associatedwith the remediation of a particular data center issue, such as the dateand time an alert was received indicating the occurrence of the datacenter issue. In certain embodiments, the data center remediation data228 may likewise include the amount of elapsed time before acorresponding data center remediation operation was begun afterreceiving the alert, and the amount of elapsed time before it wascompleted. In various embodiments, the data center remediation data 228may include information related to certain data center issues, thefrequency of their occurrence, their respective causes, error codesassociated with such data center issues, the respective location of eachdata center asset 244 associated with such data center issues, and soforth.

In various embodiments, the data center remediation data 228 may includeinformation associated with data center asset 244 replacement parts, orupgrades, or certain third party services that may need to be procuredin order to perform the data center remediation operation. Likewise, incertain embodiments, related data center remediation data 228 mayinclude the amount of elapsed time before the replacement parts, or datacenter asset 244 upgrades, or third party services were received andimplemented. In certain embodiments, the data center remediation data228 may include information associated with data center personnel whomay have performed a particular data center remediation operation.Likewise, in certain embodiments, related data center remediation data228 may include the amount of time the data center personnel actuallyspent performing the operation, issues encountered in performing theoperation, and the eventual outcome of the operation that was performed.

In certain embodiments, the data center remediation data 228 may includeremediation documentation associated with a particular data center asset244. In various embodiments, such remediation documentation may includeinformation associated with certain attributes, features,characteristics, functional capabilities, operational parameters, and soforth, of a particular data center asset 244. In certain embodiments,such remediation documentation may likewise include information, such asstep-by-step procedures and associated instructions, video tutorials,diagnostic routines and tests, checklists, and so forth, associated withremediating a particular data center issue.

In certain embodiments, the data center remediation data 228 may includeinformation associated with any related remediation dependencies, suchas other data center remediation operations that may need to beperformed beforehand. In certain embodiments, the data centerremediation data 228 may include certain time restrictions when a datacenter remediation operation, such as rebooting a particular server, maybe performed. In various embodiments, the data center remediation data228 may likewise include certain autonomous remediation rules, describedin greater detail herein. In various embodiments, certain of theseautonomous remediation rules may be used in the performance of anautonomous remediation operation, described in greater detail herein.Those of skill in the art will recognize that many such examples of datacenter remediation data 228 are possible. Accordingly, the foregoing isnot intended to limit the spirit, scope, or intent of the invention.

Data center personnel data 230, as used herein, broadly refers to anydata associated with data center personnel who may be directly, orindirectly, involved in the procurement, deployment, configuration,implementation, operation, monitoring, management, maintenance, orremediation of a particular data center asset 244. In variousembodiments, the data center personnel data 230 may include job title,work assignment, or responsibility information corresponding to certaindata center personnel. In various embodiments, the data center personneldata 230 may include information related to the type, and number, ofdata center remediation operations currently being, or previously,performed by certain data center personnel. In various embodiments, thedata center personnel data 230 may include historical information, suchas success metrics, associated with data center remediation operationsperformed by certain data center personnel, such as data centeradministrators, operators, and technicians. In these embodiments, thedata center personnel data 230 may be updated as individual data centerpersonnel complete each data center remediation task, described ingreater detail herein, they are assigned.

In various embodiments, the data center personnel data 230 may likewiseinclude education, certification, and skill level informationcorresponding to certain data center personnel. Likewise, in variousembodiments, the data center personnel data 230 may includesecurity-related information, such as security clearances, user IDs,passwords, security-related biometrics, authorizations, and so forth,corresponding to certain data center personnel. Those of skill in theart will recognize that many such examples of data center personnel data230 are possible. Accordingly, the foregoing is not intended to limitthe spirit, scope, or intent of the invention.

In certain embodiments, various data center assets 244 within a datacenter monitoring and management environment 200 may have certaininterdependencies. As an example, a data center monitoring andmanagement environment 200 may have multiple servers interconnected by astorage area network (SAN) providing block-level access to various diskarrays and tape libraries. In this example, the servers, variousphysical and operational elements of the SAN, as well the disk arraysand tape libraries, are interdependent upon one another.

In certain embodiments, each data center asset 244 in a data centermonitoring and management environment 200 may be treated as a separatedata center asset 244 and depreciated individually according to theirrespective attributes. As an example, a particular rack of servers in adata center monitoring and management environment 200 may be made up ofa variety of individual servers, each of which may have a differentdepreciation schedule. To continue the example, certain of these datacenter assets 244 may be implemented in different combinations toproduce an end result. To further illustrate the example, a particularserver in the rack of servers may initially be implemented to query adatabase of customer records. As another example, the same server may beimplemented at later time perform a sales analysis of sales associatedwith those same customer records.

In certain embodiments, each data center asset 244 in a data centermonitoring and management environment 200 may have an associatedmaintenance schedule and service contract. For example, a data centermonitoring and management environment 200 may include a wide variety ofservers and storage arrays, which may respectively be manufactured by avariety of manufacturers. In this example, the frequency and nature ofscheduled maintenance, as well as service contract terms and conditions,may be different for each server and storage array. In certainembodiments, the individual data center assets 244 in a data centermonitoring and management environment 200 may be configured differently,according to their intended use. To continue the previous example,various servers may be configured with faster or additional processorsfor one intended workload, while other servers may be configured withadditional memory for other intended workloads. Likewise, certainstorage arrays may be configured as one RAID configuration, while othersmay be configured as a different RAID configuration.

In certain embodiments, the data center monitoring and managementenvironment 200 may likewise be implemented to include an assetconfiguration system 250, a product configuration system 252, a productfabrication system 254, and a supply chain system 256, or a combinationthereof. In various embodiments, the asset configuration system 250 maybe implemented to perform certain data center asset 244 configurationoperations. In certain embodiments, the data center asset 244configuration operation may be performed to configure a particular datacenter asset 244 for a particular purpose. In certain embodiments, thedata center monitoring and management console 118 may be implemented tointeract with the asset configuration system 250 to perform a particulardata center asset 244 configuration operation. In various embodiments,the asset configuration system 250 may be implemented to generate,manage, and provide, or some combination thereof, data center assetconfiguration rules 224. In certain of these embodiments, the datacenter asset configuration rules 224 may be used to configure aparticular data center asset 244 for a particular purpose.

In certain embodiments, a user 202 may use a user device 204 to interactwith the data center monitoring and management console 118. As usedherein, a user device 204 refers to an information handling system suchas a personal computer, a laptop computer, a tablet computer, a personaldigital assistant (PDA), a smart phone, a mobile telephone, or otherdevice that is capable of processing and communicating data. In certainembodiments, the communication of the data may take place in real-timeor near-real-time. As used herein, real-time broadly refers toprocessing and providing information within a time interval brief enoughto not be discernable by a user 202.

In certain embodiments, a user device 204 may be implemented with acamera 206, such as a video camera known to skilled practitioners of theart. In certain embodiments, the camera 206 may be integrated into theuser device 204. In certain embodiments, the camera 206 may beimplemented as a separate device configured to interoperate with theuser device 204. As an example, a webcam familiar to those of skill inthe art may be implemented receive and communicate various image andaudio signals to a user device 204 via a Universal Serial Bus (USB)interface.

In certain embodiments, the user device 204 may be configured to presenta data center monitoring and management console user interface (UI) 240.In certain embodiments, the data center monitoring and managementconsole UI 240 may be implemented to present a graphical representation242 of data center asset monitoring and management information, which isautomatically generated in response to interaction with the data centermonitoring and management console 118. In certain embodiments, the UIengine 124 may be implemented to generate the data center monitoring andmanagement console UI 240, or the graphical representation 242 presentedtherein, or both.

In certain embodiments, a data center monitoring and managementapplication 238 may be implemented on a particular user device 204. Invarious embodiments, the data center monitoring and managementapplication 238 may be implemented on a mobile user device 204, such asa laptop computer, a tablet computer, a smart phone, a dedicated-purposemobile device, and so forth. In certain of these embodiments, the mobileuser device 204 may be used at various locations within the data centermonitoring and management environment 200 by the user 202 whenperforming a data center monitoring and management operation, describedin greater detail herein.

In various embodiments, the data center monitoring and managementapplication 238 may be implemented to facilitate a user 202, such as adata center administrator, operator, or technician, to perform aparticular data center remediation operation. In various embodiments,such facilitation may include using the data center monitoring andmanagement application 238 to receive a notification of a data centerremediation task, described in greater detail herein, being assigned tothe user. In certain embodiments, the data center monitoring andmanagement console 118 may be implemented to generate the notificationof the data center remediation task assignment, and assign it to theuser, as likewise described in greater detail herein. In certainembodiments, the data center monitoring and management console 118 maybe implemented to generate the data center remediation task, and oncegenerated, provide it to the data center monitoring and managementapplication 238 associated with the assigned user 202.

In certain embodiments, such facilitation may include using the datacenter monitoring and management application 238 to receive the datacenter remediation task from the data center monitoring and managementconsole 118. In various embodiments, such facilitation may include usingthe data center monitoring and management application 238 to confirmthat the user 202 is at the correct physical location of a particulardata center asset 244 associated with a corresponding data center issue.In certain of these embodiments, the data center monitoring andmanagement application 238 may be implemented to include certain GlobalPositioning System (GPS) capabilities, familiar to those of skill in theart, which may be used to determine the physical location of the user202 in relation to the physical location of a particular data centerasset 244.

In various embodiments, such facilitation may include using the datacenter monitoring and management application 238 to ensure the user 202is aware of, or is provided the location of, or receives, or acombination thereof, certain remediation resources, described in greaterdetail herein, that may be needed to perform a particular data centerremediation operation. In various embodiments, such facilitation mayinclude using the data center monitoring and management application 238to view certain remediation documentation, or augmented instructions,related to performing a particular data center remediation operation. Invarious embodiments, such facilitation may include using the data centermonitoring and management application 238 to certify that a particulardata center remediation operation has been performed successfully.

In certain embodiments the UI window 240 may be implemented as a UIwindow of the data center monitoring and management application 238. Invarious embodiments, the data center monitoring and managementapplication 238 may be implemented to include, in part or in whole,certain functionalities associated with the data center monitoring andmanagement console 118. In certain embodiments, the data centermonitoring and management application 238 may be implemented to interactin combination with the data center monitoring and management console118, and other components of the data center monitoring and managementenvironment 200, to perform a data center monitoring and managementoperation.

In certain embodiments, the user device 204 may be used to exchangeinformation between the user 202 and the data center monitoring andmanagement console 118, the data center monitoring and managementapplication 238, the asset configuration system 250, the productconfiguration system 252, the product fabrication system 254, and thesupply chain system 256, or a combination thereof, through the use of anetwork 140. In various embodiments, the asset configuration system 250may be implemented to configure a particular data center asset 244 tomeet certain performance goals. In various embodiments, the assetconfiguration system 250 may be implemented to use certain data centermonitoring and management data 220, certain data center assetconfiguration rules 226 it may generate or manage, or a combinationthereof, to perform such configurations.

In various embodiments, the product configuration system 252 may beimplemented to use certain data center monitoring and management data220 to optimally configure a particular data center asset 244, such as aserver, for an intended workload. In various embodiments, the datacenter monitoring and management data 220 used by the productconfiguration system 252 may have been generated as a result of certaindata center monitoring and management operations, described in greaterdetail herein, being performed by the data center monitoring andmanagement console 118. In various embodiments, the productconfiguration system 252 may be implemented to provide certain productconfiguration information to a product fabrication system 254. Invarious embodiments, the product fabrication system 254 may beimplemented to provide certain product fabrication information to aproduct fabrication environment (not shown). In certain embodiments, theproduct fabrication information may be used by the product fabricationenvironment to fabricate a product, such as a server, to match aparticular data center asset 244 configuration.

In various embodiments, the data center monitoring and managementconsole UI 240 may be presented via a website (not shown). In certainembodiments, the website may be provided by one or more of the datacenter monitoring and management console 118, the asset configurationsystem 250, the product configuration system 252, the productfabrication system 254, or the supply chain system 256. In certainembodiments, the supply chain system 256 may be implemented to managethe provision, fulfillment, or deployment of a particular data centerasset 244 produced in the product fabrication environment. For thepurposes of this disclosure a website may be defined as a collection ofrelated web pages which are identified with a common domain name and ispublished on at least one web server. A website may be accessible via apublic IP network or a private local network.

A web page is a document which is accessible via a browser whichdisplays the web page via a display device of an information handlingsystem. In various embodiments, the web page also includes the filewhich causes the document to be presented via the browser. In variousembodiments, the web page may comprise a static web page, which isdelivered exactly as stored and a dynamic web page, which is generatedby a web application that is driven by software that enhances the webpage via user input 208 to a web server.

In certain embodiments, the data center monitoring and managementconsole 118 may be implemented to interact with the asset configurationsystem 250, the product configuration system 252, the productfabrication system 254, and the supply chain or fulfillment system 256,or a combination thereof, each of which in turn may be executing on aseparate information handling system 100. In certain embodiments, thedata center monitoring and management console 118 may be implemented tointeract with the asset configuration system 250, the productconfiguration system 252, the product fabrication system 254, and thesupply chain or fulfillment system 256, or a combination thereof, toperform a data center monitoring and management operation, as describedin greater detail herein.

FIG. 3 shows a functional block diagram of the performance of a datacenter monitoring and management operation implemented in accordancewith an embodiment of the invention. In various embodiments, a datacenter monitoring and management environment 200, described in greaterdetail herein, may be implemented to include one or more data centers,such as data centers ‘1’ 346 through ‘n’ 348. As likewise described ingreater detail herein, each of the data centers ‘1’ 346 through ‘n’ 348may be implemented to include one or more data center assets 244,likewise described in greater detail herein. In certain embodiments, asdescribed in greater detail herein, the data center monitoring andmanagement environment 200 may be implemented to include a data centermonitoring and management console 118. In certain embodiments, the datacenter monitoring and management console 118 may be implemented toinclude a monitoring module 120, a management module 122, a userinterface (UI) engine 124, and an asset allocation system 126, or acombination thereof, as described in greater detail herein.

As described in greater detail herein, the data center monitoring andmanagement console 118 may be implemented in certain embodiments toperform a data center monitoring and management operation. In certainembodiments, the data center monitoring and management console 118 maybe implemented to provide a unified framework for the performance of aplurality of data center monitoring and management operations, by aplurality of users, within a common user interface (UI). In certainembodiments, the data center monitoring and management console 118, andother components of the data center monitoring environment 200, such asthe asset configuration system 250, may be implemented to be used by aplurality of users, such as users ‘A’ 302 through ‘x’ 312 shown in FIG.3 . In various embodiments, certain data center personnel, such as users‘A’ 302 through ‘x’ 312, may respectively interact with the data centermonitoring and management console 118, and other components of the datacenter monitoring and management environment 200, through the use of anassociated user device ‘A’ 304 through ‘x’ 314.

In certain embodiments, such interactions may be respectively presentedto users ‘A’ 302 through ‘x’ 312 within a user interface (UI) window 306through 316, corresponding to user devices ‘A’ 304 through ‘x’ 314. Incertain embodiments the UI window 306 through 316 may be implemented ina window of a web browser, familiar to skilled practitioners of the art.In certain embodiments, a data center monitoring and managementapplication 310 through 320, described in greater detail herein, may berespectively implemented on user devices ‘A’ 304 through ‘x’ 314. Incertain embodiments the UI window 306 through 316 may be respectivelyimplemented as a UI window of the data center monitoring and managementapplication 310 through 320. In certain embodiments, the data centermonitoring and management application 310 through 320 may be implementedto interact in combination with the data center monitoring andmanagement console 118, and other components of the data centermonitoring and management environment 200, to perform a data centermonitoring and management operation.

In certain embodiments, the interactions with the data center monitoringand management console 118, and other components of the data centermonitoring and management environment 200, may respectively be presentedas a graphical representation 308 through 318 within UI windows 306through 316. In various embodiments, such interactions may be presentedto users ‘A’ 302 through ‘x’ 312 via a display device 324, such as aprojector or large display screen. In certain of these embodiments, theinteractions may be presented to users ‘A’ 302 through ‘x’ 312 as agraphical representation 338 within a UI window 336.

In certain embodiments, the display device 324 may be implemented in acommand center 350, familiar to those of skill in the art, such as acommand center 350 typically found in a data center or a networkoperations center (NOC). In various embodiments, one or more of theusers ‘A’ 302 through ‘x’ 312 may be located within the command center350. In certain of these embodiments, the display device 324 may beimplemented to be generally viewable by one or more of the users ‘A’ 302through ‘x’ 312.

In certain embodiments, the data center monitoring and managementoperation may be performed to identify the location 350 of a particulardata center asset 244. In certain embodiments, the location 350 of adata center asset 244 may be physical, such as the physical address ofits associated data center, a particular room in a building at thephysical address, a particular location in an equipment rack in thatroom, and so forth. In certain embodiments, the location 350 of a datacenter asset 244 may be non-physical, such as a network address, adomain, a Uniform Resource Locator (URL), a file name in a directory,and so forth.

Certain embodiments of the invention reflect an appreciation that it isnot uncommon for large organization to have one or more data centers,such as data centers ‘1’ 346 through ‘n’ 348. Certain embodiments of theinvention reflect an appreciation that it is likewise not uncommon forsuch data centers to have multiple data center system administrators anddata center technicians. Likewise, various embodiments of the inventionreflect an appreciation that it is common for a data center systemadministrator to be responsible for planning, initiating, and overseeingthe execution of certain data center monitoring and managementoperations. Certain embodiments of the invention reflect an appreciationthat it is common for a data center system administrator, such as user‘A’ 302, to assign a particular data center monitoring and managementoperation to a data center technician, such as user ‘x’ 312, as a taskto be executed.

Certain embodiments of the invention reflect an appreciation that it islikewise common for a data center administrator, such as user ‘A’ 302,to assume responsibility for performing a particular data centermonitoring and management operation. As an example, a data centeradministrator may receive a stream of data center alerts, each of whichis respectively associated with one or more data center issues. Tocontinue the example, several of the alerts may have an initial priorityclassification of “critical.”However, the administrator may notice thatone such alert may be associated with a data center issue that is morecritical, or time sensitive, than the others and should be remediated asquickly as possible. Accordingly, the data center administrator mayelect to assume responsibility for remediating the data center issue,and as a result, proceed to perform an associated data centerremediation operation at that time instead of assigning it to other datacenter personnel.

Certain embodiments of the invention reflect an appreciation that thenumber of data center assets 244 in a particular data center ‘1’ 346through ‘n’ 348 may be quite large. Furthermore, it is not unusual forsuch data center assets 244 to be procured, deployed, configured, andimplemented on a scheduled, or as needed, basis. It is likewise commonfor certain existing data center assets 244 to be replaced, upgraded,reconfigured, maintained, or remediated on a scheduled, or as-needed,basis. Likewise, certain embodiments of the invention reflect anappreciation that such replacements, upgrades, reconfigurations,maintenance, or remediation may be oriented towards hardware, firmware,software, connectivity, or a combination thereof.

For example, a data center system administrator may be responsible forthe creation of data asset 244 procurement, deployment, configuration,and implementation templates, firmware update bundles, operating system(OS) and software application stacks, and so forth. Likewise, a datacenter technician may be responsible for receiving a procured datacenter asset 244, transporting it to a particular data asset location350 in a particular data center ‘1’ 346 through ‘n’ 348, andimplementing it in that location 350. The same, or another, data centertechnician may then be responsible for configuring the data center asset244, establishing network connectivity, applying configuration files,and so forth. To continue the example, the same, or another, data centeradministrator or technician may be responsible for remediating hardwareissues, such as replacing a disc drive in a server or Redundant Array ofIndependent Disks (RAID) array, or software issues, such as updating ahardware driver or the version of a server's operating system.Accordingly, certain embodiments of the invention reflect anappreciation that a significant amount of coordination may be neededbetween data center system administrators and data center technicians toassure efficient and reliable operation of a data center.

In various embodiments, certain data center monitoring and managementoperations may include a data center remediation operation, described ingreater detail herein. In certain embodiments, a data center remediationoperation may be performed to remediate a particular data asset 244issue at a particular data asset location 350 in a particular datacenter ‘1’ 346 through ‘n’ 348. In certain embodiments, the data centerremediation operation may be performed to ensure that a particular datacenter asset location 350 in a particular data center ‘1’ 346 through‘n’ 348 is available for the replacement or upgrade of an existing datacenter asset 244. As an example, a data center remediation operation mayinvolve deployment of a replacement server that occupies more rack spacethan the server it will be replacing.

In various embodiments, the data center monitoring and managementconsole 118, or the data center monitoring and management application310 through 320, or a combination of the two, may be implemented in afailure tracking mode to capture certain data center asset 244telemetry. In various embodiments, the data center asset 244 telemetrymay include data associated with the occurrence of certain events, suchas the failure, or anomalous performance, of a particular data centerasset 244 in whole, or in part. In certain embodiments, the data centerasset 244 telemetry may be captured incrementally to provide ahistorical perspective of the occurrence, and evolution, of anassociated data center issue.

In various embodiments, the data center monitoring and managementconsole 118 may likewise be implemented generate certain remediationoperation notes. For example, the data center monitoring and managementconsole 118 may enter certain data center asset 244 remediationinstructions in the data center remediation operation notes. In variousembodiments, the data center remediation operation notes may beimplemented to contain information related to data center asset 244replacement or upgrade parts, data center asset 244 files that may beneeded, installation and configuration instructions related to suchfiles, the physical location 350 of the data center asset 244, and soforth. In certain embodiments, a remediation task 344 may be generatedby associating the previously-generated data center remediationoperation notes with the remediation documentation, data center assetfiles, or other remediation resources 342 most pertinent to the datacenter issue, and the administrator, and any data center personnelselected or its remediation. As used herein, a data center remediationtask 344 broadly refers to one or more data center remediationoperations, described in greater detail herein, that can be assigned toone or more users ‘A’ 302 through ‘x’ 312.

Certain embodiments of the invention reflect an appreciation that agroup of data center personnel, such as users ‘A’ 302 through ‘x’ 312,will likely possess different skills, certifications, levels ofeducation, knowledge, experience, and so forth. As a result, remediationdocumentation that is suitable for certain data center personnel may notbe suitable for others. For example, a relatively inexperienced datacenter administrator may be overwhelmed by a massive volume of detailedand somewhat arcane minutiae related to the configuration andadministration of multiple virtual machines (VMs) on a large server.However, such remediation documentation may be exactly what a highlyskilled and experienced data center administrator needs to remediatesubtle server and VM configuration issues.

Conversely, the same highly skilled and experienced data centeradministrator may be hampered, or slowed down, by being providedremediation documentation that is too simplistic, generalized, orhigh-level for the data center issue they may be attempting toremediate. Likewise, an administrator who is moderately skilled inconfiguring VMs may benefit from having step-by-step instructions, andcorresponding checklists, when remediating a VM-related data centerissue. Accordingly, as used herein, pertinent remediation documentationbroadly refers to remediation documentation applicable to acorresponding data center issue that is most suited to the skills,certifications, level of education, knowledge, experience, and so forthof the data center personnel assigned to its remediation.

In various embodiments, the data center monitoring and managementconsole 118 may be implemented to generate a corresponding notificationof the remediation task 344. In certain embodiments, the resultingnotification of the remediation task 344 assignment may be provided tothe one or more users ‘A’ 302 through ‘x’ 312 assigned to perform theremediation task 344. In certain embodiments, the notification of theremediation task 344 assignment may be respectively provided to the oneor more users ‘A’ 302 through ‘x’ 312 within the UI 306 through 316 oftheir respective user devices ‘A’ 304 through ‘x’ 314. In certainembodiments, the notification of the remediation task 344 assignment,and the remediation task 344 itself, may be implemented such that theyare only visible to the users ‘A’ 302 through ‘x’ 312 to which it isassigned.

In certain embodiments, the data center monitoring and managementconsole 118 may be implemented to operate in a monitoring mode. As usedherein, monitoring mode broadly refers to a mode of operation wherecertain monitoring information provided by the monitoring and managementconsole 118 is available for use by one or more users ‘A’ 302 through‘x’ 312. In certain embodiments, one or more of the users ‘A’ 302through ‘x’ 312 may be command center 350 users. In certain embodiments,the data center monitoring and management console 118 may be implementedto operate in a management mode. As used herein, management mode broadlyrefers to a mode of operation where certain operational functionality ofthe data center monitoring and management console 118 is available foruse by a user, such as users ‘A’ 302 through ‘x’ 312.

FIG. 4 shows a simplified block diagram of an asset allocation systemimplemented in accordance with an embodiment of the invention toallocate data center asset resources to a plurality of workloads. Incertain embodiments, a data center monitoring and management console,described in greater detail herein, may be implemented to include anasset allocation system 126. In certain embodiments, the assetallocation 126 system may be implemented to include an assetchoreography 428 module, a workload orchestration 430 module, and a datacenter asset resource inventory 432 module, or a combination thereof.

In certain embodiments, the asset allocation system 126 may beimplemented to perform a data center asset allocation operation. As usedherein, a data center asset allocation operation broadly refers to anytask, function, operation, procedure, or process performed to allocatethe use of one or more resources associated with a data center asset,described in greater detail herein, to a particular workload. Aslikewise used herein, a data center asset resource broadly refers to adiscrete aspect, element, or component of a data center asset that canbe utilized, directly or indirectly, in whole or in part, to process aparticular workload. Examples of data center asset resources include acentral processing unit (CPU), or an individual core or cycles thereof,memory, such as random access memory (RAM), or a portion thereof,storage, such as a disk drive, or a portion thereof, an input/output(I/O) port, such as an I/O port of a server, router, or network switch,and so forth.

A workload, as used herein, broadly refers to a measure of informationprocessing that can be performed by one or more data center assetresources, individually or in combination with one another, within adata center monitoring and management environment, described in greaterdetail herein. In certain embodiments, a workload may be implemented tobe processed in a virtual machine (VM) environment, familiar to skilledpractitioners of the art. In various embodiments, a workload may beimplemented to be processed as a containerized workload, likewisefamiliar to those of skill in the art.

In certain embodiments, the asset choreography 428 module may beimplemented to perform an asset choreography operation. As used herein,an asset choreography operation broadly refers to any task, function,operation, procedure, or process performed to track the allocation andutilization of certain data center asset resources within a data centermonitoring and management environment, determine their availability forallocation, or reallocation, and once determined, allocate or reallocatetheir use to process a particular workload. In various embodiments, thesequence and steps of a particular asset choreography operation may bedefined through the implementation of certain messages, rules ofinteraction, and operational agreements between two or more data centerassets. In various embodiments, an asset choreography operation may beperformed to track the use of certain data center asset resources withintwo or more data center monitoring and management environments, or oneor more respective portions thereof, determine their availability forallocation, and once determined, allocate their use to process aparticular workload.

In certain embodiments, the workload orchestration 430 module may beimplemented to perform a workload orchestration operation. As usedherein, a workload orchestration operation broadly refers to any task,function, operation, procedure, or process performed to implement one ormore previously-allocated data center asset resources such that they canbe used to process a particular workload. In various embodiments, thesequence and steps of a particular workload orchestration operation maybe defined through the implementation of certain messages, rules ofinteraction, and operational agreements between two or more data centerassets. In various embodiments, a workload orchestration operation maybe performed to implement one or more previously-allocated data centerasset resources within two or more data center monitoring and managementenvironments, or one or more respective portions thereof, such that theycan be used to process a particular workload.

In certain embodiments, the asset resource inventory 432 module may beimplemented to perform an asset resource inventory operation. As usedherein, an asset resource inventory operation broadly refers to anytask, function, operation, procedure, or process performed to maintainan inventory of data center asset resources that are available forallocation to a particular workload. In various embodiments, one or moreasset resource inventory operations may be performed to maintain aninventory of data center asset resources that are not currentlyallocated to a particular workload, and as such, may be available forallocation. In certain of these embodiments, data center asset resourcesthat are not currently allocated to a particular workload may be held inreserve for future allocation to a particular workload, and as such, arenot available for allocation to a different workload.

In certain embodiments, one or more asset resource inventory operationsmay be performed to maintain an inventory of data center asset resourcesthat are currently allocated to a particular workload, but areunderutilized, and as such may be available for allocation to adifferent workload. In these embodiments, the method by which suchinventories are maintained, and the method by which it is determinedthat a particular data center asset resource may, or may not, beavailable for allocation to a particular workload, is a matter of designchoice. In certain embodiments, such inventories may be stored in arepository of data center asset data, described in greater detailherein.

In certain embodiments, the asset choreography 428 module, the workloadorchestration 430 module, and the asset resource inventory 432 module,or a combination thereof, may be used in the performance of a datacenter asset allocation operation to determine the capacity 434 of aparticular data center asset resource. As used herein, the capacity 434of a data center asset resource broadly refers to a measure of itsoperational ability to contribute to the processing of a particularworkload. In various embodiments, the asset choreography 428 module, theworkload orchestration 430 module, and the asset resource inventory 432module, or a combination thereof, may be implemented to provide certaininformation associated with a particular data center asset resource'smaximum capacity 434, or minimum capacity 434, or a combination thereof.In various embodiments, the asset choreography 428 module, the workloadorchestration 430, and the asset resource inventory 432 module, or acombination thereof, may be implemented to provide certain informationassociated with the current or historical utilization of a particulardata center asset resource's capacity 434.

As an example, a server may have two CPUs, each of which has eightcores. In this example, the maximum capacity 434 of each CPU is eightcores, and the minimum capacity 434 is one core. To continue theexample, one of the CPUs may have five of its cores currently allocatedto a particular workload. However, the same CPU may have had four of itscores allocated to the same workload at some point in the past, andthree of its cores allocated to the same workload at some point beforethat. Accordingly, in this example, the current capacity 434 utilizationof the CPU is five cores, and the historical capacity 434 utilization isfour cores previously, and three cores before that.

In various embodiments, the asset choreography 428 module, the workloadorchestration 430 module, and the asset resource inventory 432 module,or a combination thereof, may be implemented to determine the degree towhich a particular workload may be scaled 436 according to theavailability of certain data center asset resources. In variousembodiments, the asset choreography 428 module, or the workloadorchestration 430 module, or both, may be implemented to provide certaininformation associated with the degree to which a particular workloadcan be scaled 436 with its currently-allocated data center assetresources. In various embodiments, the asset choreography 428 module, orthe workload orchestration 430 module, or both, may be implemented toprovide certain information associated with the degree to which aparticular workload can be scaled 436 if it were to be allocated certainavailable data center assets.

To continue the previous example, a particular workload may currently beallocated five out of eight CPU cores. In this example, the workload maybe able to currently process a maximum of five hundred financialtransactions a second. However, the performance of one or more datacenter asset allocation operations may indicate that the workload may bescaled 436 to process a maximum of eight hundred financial transactionsa second if it were to be allocated all eight CPU cores.

In various embodiments, the asset choreography 428 module, the workloadorchestration 430 module, and the asset resource inventory 432 module,or a combination thereof, may be implemented to determine the efficiency438 of a particular workload according to its allocation of certain datacenter asset resources. In certain embodiments, the asset choreography428 module, or the workload orchestration 430 module, or both, may beimplemented to provide certain information associated with howefficiently 438 a particular workload can be processed with itscurrently-allocated data center asset resources. In various embodiments,the asset choreography 428 module, or the workload orchestration 430module, or both, may be implemented to provide certain informationassociated with how efficiently 438 a particular workload can beprocessed if it were to be allocated certain additional data centerasset resources if they are available.

To continue the previous example further, a particular workload maycurrently be allocated five out of eight CPU cores. In this example, theworkload may currently be operating at fifty percent efficiency 438 dueto the availability of CPU cycles provided by five cores. However, theperformance of one or more data center monitoring and managementoperations may indicate that the efficiency 438 of the workload may beimproved to eighty percent if it were to be allocated all eight CPUcores.

FIG. 5 is a simplified process flow diagram showing the performance ofdata center asset allocation operations implemented in accordance withan embodiment of the invention. In this embodiment, an inventory ofavailable data center asset resources is updated in step 502 todetermine which data center asset resources may be available forallocation. In certain embodiments, one or more asset resource inventoryoperations, described in greater detail herein, may be performed toupdate the inventory of available data center asset resources. In step504, a particular workload is selected for allocation of data centerasset resources. Which data center asset resources to allocate to theselected workload are then determined in step 506. In this embodiment,the method by which a particular workload may be selected for allocationof data center asset resources, and the method by which it is determinedwhich data center asset resources are selected to allocate to theselected workload, is a matter of design choice.

An inventory of available data center asset resources is then checked instep 508 to determine their availability for allocation to the selectedworkload. In certain embodiments, one or more asset resource inventoryoperations, may be performed to use the inventory of available datacenter asset resources to determine which data center asset resourcesare available for allocation to the selected workload. In certainembodiments, it may be determined that the previously-selected datacenter asset resources may not be available for allocation to theselected workload. In certain of these embodiments, an assetchoreography operation, described in greater detail herein, may beperformed to determine whether the previously-selected data center assetresources may be currently allocated to a different workload, but areunderutilized. In various embodiments, an asset choreography operationmay be performed to determine whether such a currently-allocated, butunderutilized data center asset resource, is available for reallocationto the selected workload.

The previously-selected data center asset resources, if available, arethen allocated to the selected workload in step 510. Then, in step 512,the allocated, or reallocated, data center asset resources are used toprocess the workload. Thereafter, performance of the workload ismonitored in step 514 to determine whether its current allocation ofdata center asset resources should be adjusted. The process is thencontinued, proceeding with step 502.

FIG. 6 shows an example screen presentation of a user interface (UI)implemented in accordance with an embodiment of the invention toallocate certain data center asset resources to optimize a workload. Inthis embodiment, a data center monitoring and management console UI 602is implemented to display an asset resource allocation console 604window and an asset resource allocation optimization 610 window. Asshown in FIG. 6 , the data center monitoring and management console UI602 may be implemented to provide an alert to a user, such as “Anopportunity to optimize utilization of data center assets has beendetected.” within a console alert field 606. In response, the userselects the “Show Details” 608 command button through the use of a usergesture, such as a mouse click. As a result, the asset resourceallocation optimization 610 window is displayed within the UI 602 of thedata center monitoring and management console.

In various embodiments, as described in greater detail herein, a datacenter monitoring and management console may be implemented to performone or more data center monitoring and management operations torecommend the allocation of certain data center assets 614, and certainaspects 616, of a particular workload to optimize, or otherwise improve,its performance. In various embodiments, the data center monitoring andmanagement console may be implemented to receive certain user inputrelated to which data center assets 624 they desire be allocated to aparticular workload to optimize, or otherwise improve, its performance.In various embodiments, the data center monitoring and managementconsole may likewise be implemented to receive certain user inputrelated to which aspects 626 of a particular workload they desire tooptimize, or other wise improve. In various embodiments, the data centermonitoring and management console may be implemented to receive certainuser input related to a combination of which data center assets theydesire be allocated to a particular workload and which aspects of aparticular workload they desire to optimize, or other wise improve, itsperformance. In these embodiments, the data center monitoring andmanagement console UI 602 may be implemented to receive such user input.

As shown in FIG. 6 , the asset resource allocation optimization 610window may be implemented to include a “Recommended Asset ResourceAllocation Optimization” 612 sub-window and a “Custom Asset ResourceAllocation Optimization” 622 sub-window. In this embodiment, as likewiseshown in FIG. 6 , the “Recommended Asset Resource AllocationOptimization” 612 sub-window is implemented to show that allocation ofcertain data center asset resources 614, such as “Update Firmware” and“Add Compute” are recommended. Likewise, as shown in FIG. 6 , the“Recommended Asset Resource Allocation Optimization” 612 sub-window isimplemented to show that the aspects 616 of “Performance” and “Security”are recommended to optimize, or other wise improve, the performance ofan associated workload.

As shown in FIG. 6 , the “Recommended Asset Resource AllocationOptimization” 612 sub-window is likewise implemented to include anoptimization score 618 field. In various embodiments, the optimizationscore 618 field may be implemented to display an optimization scorecorresponding to the degree the performance of an associated workload isoptimized, or otherwise improved, as a result of applying the datacenter asset resource 614 allocation and workload aspect 616recommendations shown in the “Recommended Asset Resource AllocationOptimization” 612 sub-window. In these embodiments, the metrics used tocharacterize such an optimization score, and the method by which it isdetermined and presented, is a matter of design choice.

As likewise shown in FIG. 6 , the “Custom Asset Resource AllocationOptimization” 622 sub-window may be implemented to receive user input toallocate certain data center asset resources 624, such as “UpdateFirmware,” “Update Configuration,” “Add Compute,” “Add Bandwidth,” “AddMemory,” “Add Storage,” and so forth. Likewise as shown in FIG. 6 , the“Custom Asset Resource Allocation Optimization” 622 sub-window may beimplemented to receive user input related to certain aspects 626 of aparticular workload they desire to optimize, or other wise improve, suchas “Performance,” “Security,” “Bottleneck Detection,” “MinimizeDowntime,” “Maximize Uptime,” and so forth.

In various embodiments, selecting the “Apply” 630 command button withinthe data center monitoring and management console UI 602 results in thedata center resource allocation 614 recommendations and the workloadaspect 616 recommendations depicted in the “Recommended Asset ResourceAllocation Optimization” 612 sub-window being applied. Likewise, incertain embodiments, selecting the “Apply” 630 command button within thedata center monitoring and management console UI 602 results in the datacenter resource allocation 624 user selections and the workload aspect626 user selections depicted in the “Custom Asset Resource AllocationOptimization” 622 sub-window being applied. In certain embodiments, the“Recommended Asset Resource Allocation Optimization” 612 sub-window maybe likewise implemented to include an optimization score 618 field. Invarious embodiments, the optimization score 618 field may be implementedto display an optimization score corresponding to the degree theperformance of an associated workload is optimized, or otherwiseimproved, as a result of applying the data center asset resource 614allocation and workload aspect 616 user selections shown in the“Recommended Asset Resource Allocation Optimization” 612 sub-window.

FIG. 7 shows a simplified block diagram of a plurality of assetallocation systems implemented in accordance with an embodiment of theinvention within a hybrid cloud environment. As used herein, a hybridcloud environment broadly refers to a datacenter monitoring andmanagement environment, described in greater detail herein, that isimplemented to include both an on-premises data center monitoring andmanagement environment and a cloud-based data center monitoring andmanagement environment, both of which are likewise described in greaterdetail herein. Various embodiments of the invention reflect anappreciation that an organization may elect to perform certain workloadsin one data center monitoring and management environment or another.Likewise, various embodiments of the invention reflect an appreciationthat an organization may decide to move a workload from one data centermonitoring and management environment to another. Accordingly, certainembodiments of the invention reflect an appreciation that the ability tomove a workload from an on-premises data center monitoring andmanagement environment to a cloud-based data center monitoring andmanagement environment, or vice versa, may be advantageous.

In certain embodiments, an asset allocation system, described in greaterdetail herein, may be implemented as an on-premises asset allocationsystem 726, a cloud-based asset allocation system 736, and a hybridcloud asset allocation system 746. In certain embodiments, theon-premises asset allocation system 726 may be implemented to include anon-premises asset choreography 728 module, an on-premises workloadorchestration 730, and an on-premises asset resource inventory 732module, or a combination thereof. In certain embodiments, thecloud-based asset allocation system 736 may be implemented to include acloud-based asset choreography 738 module, a cloud-based workloadorchestration 740 module, and a cloud-based asset resource inventory 742module, or a combination thereof. In certain embodiments, the hybridcloud asset allocation system 746 may be implemented to include a hybridcloud asset choreography 748 module, a hybrid cloud workloadorchestration 750 module, and a hybrid cloud asset resource inventory752 module, or a combination thereof.

In certain embodiments, the on-premises asset allocation system 726 maybe implemented in an on-premises data center monitoring and managementenvironment. As used herein, an on-premises data center monitoring andmanagement environment broadly refers to a data center monitoring andmanagement environment whose associated data center assets are directlyor indirectly owned, operated, or managed, or a combination thereof, bya user or an associated organization. In certain embodiments, theon-premises asset choreography 728 module may be implemented to performan asset choreography operation, described in greater detail herein,within an on-premises data center monitoring and management environment.In certain embodiments, the on-premises workload orchestration 730module may be implemented to perform a workload orchestration operation,likewise described in greater detail herein, within an on-premises datacenter monitoring and management environment. In certain embodiments,the on-premises asset resource inventory 732 module may be implementedto perform an asset resource inventory operation, described in greaterdetail herein, within an on-premises data center monitoring andmanagement environment.

In certain embodiments, the cloud-based asset allocation system 736 maybe implemented in a cloud-based data center monitoring and managementenvironment. As used herein, a cloud-based data center monitoring andmanagement environment broadly refers to a cloud computing environment,familiar to skilled practitioners or the art, whose associated datacenter assets are directly or indirectly operated, or managed, or both,on behalf of a user or an associated organization. In certainembodiments, the cloud-based asset choreography 738 module may beimplemented to perform an asset choreography operation within acloud-based data center monitoring and management environment. Incertain embodiments, the cloud-based workload orchestration 740 modulemay be implemented to perform a workload orchestration operation withina cloud-based data center monitoring and management environment. Incertain embodiments, the cloud-based asset resource inventory 732 modulemay be implemented to perform an asset resource inventory operation,described in greater detail herein, within a cloud-based data centermonitoring and management environment.

In certain embodiments, the hybrid cloud asset allocation system 746 maybe implemented in either an on-premises data center monitoring andmanagement environment, or a cloud-based data center monitoring andmanagement environment, or both. In certain embodiments, the hybridcloud asset allocation system 746 may be implemented to coordinate oneor more data center asset allocation operations respectively performedby the on-premises asset allocation system 726 and the cloud-based assetallocation system 736. In certain embodiments, the hybrid cloud assetchoreography 748 module may be implemented to coordinate one or moreasset choreography operations respectively performed by the on-premisesasset choreography 728 module and the on-premises workload orchestration730 module. In certain embodiments, the hybrid cloud workloadorchestration 750 module may be implemented to coordinate one or moreworkload orchestration operations respectively performed by theon-premises asset choreography 738 module and the cloud-based workloadorchestration 740 module. In certain embodiments, the hybrid cloud assetresource inventory 752 module may be implemented to coordinate one ormore asset resource inventory operations respectively performed by theon-premises asset resource inventory 732 module and the cloud-basedasset resource inventory 742 module.

In various embodiments, certain messages, rules of interaction, andoperational agreements may be exchanged between the hybrid cloud assetallocation system 746, the on-premises asset allocation system 726, thecloud-based asset allocation system 736, and their respective modulesduring the coordination of a data asset allocation operation, an assetorchestration operation, a workload orchestration operation, an assetresource inventory operation, or a combination thereof. In certainembodiments, such messages, rules of interaction, and operationalagreements may be respectively exchanged between the hybrid cloud assetallocation system 746, the on-premises asset allocation system 726, andthe cloud-based asset allocation system 736, via a network connection752, 754. In certain embodiments, one or more application programinterfaces (APIs) may be implemented to communicate such messages, rulesof interaction, and operational agreements that may be respectivelyexchanged between the hybrid cloud asset allocation system 746, theon-premises asset allocation system 726, and the cloud-based assetallocation system 736, via the network connections 752, 754.

In various embodiments, the hybrid cloud allocation system 746 may beimplemented to track the allocation and utilization of certain datacenter asset resources within one or more on-premises data centermonitoring and management environments and one or more cloud-based datacenter monitoring and management environments. In certain of theseembodiments, the hybrid cloud allocation system 746 may likewise beimplemented to determine the availability of such data center assets forallocation, or reallocation, and once determined, coordinate theallocation, or reallocation, of their use to process a particularworkload. In certain embodiments, the hybrid cloud allocation system 746may be implemented to use a hybrid cloud inventory of data center assetsto determine which may be available for allocation to a particularworkload and which are not.

As used herein, a hybrid cloud inventory of data center assets broadlyrefers to an aggregate inventory of data center assets associated withone or more on-premises data center monitoring and managementenvironments, or a portion thereof, and one or more cloud-based datacenter monitoring and management environments, or a portion thereof. Invarious embodiments, the hybrid cloud allocation system 746 may beimplemented to use the hybrid cloud asset resource inventory 752 moduleto generate the hybrid cloud inventory of data center asset resources.In various embodiments, the hybrid cloud asset resource inventory 752module may be implemented to use the hybrid cloud inventory of datacenter asset resources to determine the allocation status of certaindata center asset resources, their current utilization, and theiravailability for allocation or reallocation, or a combination thereof.

In certain embodiments, the hybrid cloud allocation system 746 may beimplemented to coordinate the migration of a particular workload from anon-premises data center monitoring and management environment to acloud-based data center monitoring and management environment, or viceversa. As an example, a particular workload that is being currentlybeing processed in an on-premises data center monitoring and managementenvironment may need to be scaled. Furthermore, it may be desirable toincrease its efficiency. Accordingly, it may need to be allocatedadditional data center asset resources to achieve these scalability andefficiency goals.

In this example, the workload may currently be allocated five cores ofone central processing unit (CPU) in a server, thirty two gigabytes ofrandom access memory (RAM) in the same server, and sixteen terabytes(TB) of random array of independent (RAID) storage. To continue theexample, the workload is currently consuming eighty percent of itsallocated CPU cores, ninety five percent of its allocated memory, andfifty percent of its allocated RAID storage. To continue the examplefurther, the workload may be operating at sixty percent efficiency andthe goal may be to scale its capacity by one hundred percent whilesimultaneously improving its efficiency.

To continue the example yet further, the on-premises asset choreography728 module may be implemented to perform an asset choreography operationto determine which, if any, data center assets within the on-premisesdata center monitoring and management environment may be available forallocation to the workload. In further continuance of the example, theresults of the asset choreography operation may indicate there is onlyone additional CPU core available for allocation, eight gigabytes of RAMavailable, and four terabytes of RAID storage available for allocationto the workload. Unfortunately, in this example, the on-premises datacenter assets available for allocation to the workload are insufficientto meet its scalability and efficiency goals.

Accordingly, the on-premises asset allocation system 726 first places arequest to the hybrid cloud asset allocation system 746 to determine theavailability of cloud-based data center assets that may be used to scalethe workload and improve its efficiency. In response, the hybrid cloudasset allocation system 746 queries the cloud-based asset allocationsystem 736 to determine whether the needed data center asset resourcesare available. In response, the cloud-based asset allocation system 736may respond that it does, after which, the hybrid cloud asset allocationsystem 746 notifies the on-premises asset allocation system 726 that theneeded data center asset resources are available.

Thereafter, the hybrid cloud workload orchestration 750 modulecommunicates with the on-premises workload orchestration 730 module andthe cloud-based workload orchestration 740 module to coordinate themigration of the workload. In this example, the first step of themigration is to create a copy of the workload within the cloud-baseddata center monitoring and management environment. Once the copy of theworkload has been created, the cloud-based asset choreography 738 moduleperforms an asset choreography operation to allocate whatevercloud-based data center asset resources may be needed by the workload toachieve its scalability and efficiency goals.

Once allocated, the cloud-based workload orchestration 740 moduleperforms one of more cloud-based workload orchestration operations toimplement the cloud-based data center assets for use by the copy of theworkload. Thereafter, the workload is migrated from the on-premises datacenter monitoring and management environment to its copy in thecloud-based data center monitoring and management environment. Theoriginal workload in the on-premises data center monitoring andmanagement environment is ended and its associated on-premises datacenter asset resources are released and made available for allocation inthe future.

FIG. 8 is a simplified process flow diagram showing the performance ofdata center asset resource allocation operations implemented inaccordance with an embodiment of the invention within a hybrid cloudenvironment. In this embodiment, a particular workload is selected instep 802 for allocation of data center asset resources, followed bydetermining which data center assets may be needed for allocation instep 804. A particular on-premises data monitoring and managementenvironment or a particular cloud-based data center monitoring andmanagement environment is then selected to process the workload in step806.

An inventory of the selected data center monitoring and managementenvironment's data center asset resources is then checked in step 808 todetermine whether the data center asset resources needed by the selectedworkload are available. In certain embodiments, one or more assetresource inventory operations, may be performed to use the inventory ofavailable data center asset resources to determine which data centerasset resources are available for allocation to the selected workload.In certain embodiments, it may be determined that thepreviously-selected data center asset resources may not be availablewithin the selected data center monitoring and management environmentfor allocation to the selected workload.

In certain of these embodiments, an asset choreography operation,described in greater detail herein, may be performed to determinewhether the previously-selected data center asset resources may becurrently allocated to a different workload, but are underutilized. Invarious embodiments, an asset choreography operation may be performed todetermine whether such a currently-allocated, but underutilized datacenter asset resource, is available for reallocation to the selectedworkload. In this embodiment, the method by which a particular workloadmay be selected for allocation, or reallocation, of data center assetresources, and the method by which it is determined which data centerasset resources are selected to allocate, or reallocate, to the selectedworkload, is a matter of design choice.

Once it is determined that the data center assets needed for allocation,or reallocation, to the selected workload are available, the workload ismigrated to the selected data center monitoring and managementenvironment in step 810, as described in greater detail herein. Incertain embodiments, a hybrid cloud allocation system, described ingreater detail herein, may be implemented to coordinate the migration ofa particular workload from an on-premises data center monitoring andmanagement environment to a cloud-based data center monitoring andmanagement environment, or vice versa, once the selection is made.

The available data center asset resources are then allocated to theselected workload in step 812. Then, in step 814, the allocated datacenter asset resources are used to process the workload. Thereafter,performance of the workload is monitored in step 816 to determinewhether its current allocation of data center asset resources should beadjusted. The process is then continued, proceeding with step 802.

FIG. 9 shows an example screen presentation of a user interface (UI)implemented in accordance with an embodiment of the invention toallocate certain data center asset resources to optimize a workload in ahybrid environment. In this embodiment, a data center monitoring andmanagement console UI 602 is implemented to display a workloadoptimization console 904 window and a workload optimization 910 window.As shown in FIG. 9 , the data center monitoring and management consoleUI 602 may be implemented to provide an alert to a user, such as “Anopportunity to optimize workload ‘X’ has been detected.” within aconsole alert field 906. In response, the user selects the “ShowDetails” 908 command button through the use of a user gesture, such as amouse click. As a result, the workload optimization 910 window isdisplayed within the UI 602 of the data center monitoring and managementconsole.

In various embodiments, as described in greater detail herein, a datacenter monitoring and management console may be implemented to performone or more data center monitoring and management operations torecommend the allocation of certain data center assets 914, that may beavailable at certain data centers 916, to optimize, or otherwiseimprove, the performance of a particular workload. In variousembodiments, the data center monitoring and management console may beimplemented to receive certain user input related to which data centerassets 924 they may desire to be allocated, at a particular data center926, to a particular workload to optimize, or otherwise improve, itsperformance. In these embodiments, the data center monitoring andmanagement console UI 602 may be implemented to receive such user input.

As shown in FIG. 9 , the workload optimization 910 window may beimplemented to include a “Recommended Workload Optimization” 912sub-window and a “Custom Workload Optimization” 922 sub-window. In thisembodiment, as likewise shown in FIG. 9 , the “Recommended WorkloadOptimization” 912 sub-window is implemented to show that allocation ofcertain data center asset resources 914, such as “Compute,” “DataStorage,” and “Security,” respectively corresponding to data centers 916“LA”, ‘ATX, and ‘CHI’ are recommended. As likewise shown in FIG. 9 , the“Custom Workload Optimization” 922 sub-window may be implemented toreceive user input to allocate certain data center asset resources 924,such as “Compute,” “Data Storage,” and “Security,” respectively locatedat a particular data center 926, which the user selects.

In various embodiments, selecting the “Apply” 930 command button withinthe data center monitoring and management console UI 602 results in thedata center resource allocation 914 recommendations, respectivelycorresponding to data centers 916 “LA”, ‘ATX, and ‘CHI’ depicted in the“Recommended Workload Optimization” 912 sub-window being applied.Likewise, in certain embodiments, selecting the “Apply” 930 commandbutton within the data center monitoring and management console UI 602results in the data center resource allocation 924 user selections andthe data center 926 user selections depicted in the “Custom WorkloadOptimization” 922 sub-window being applied.

FIG. 10 is a functional block diagram showing the reallocation of datacenter asset resources implemented in accordance with an embodiment ofthe invention. In certain embodiments, an asset allocation system 126may be implemented to reallocate underutilized data asset resources fromone workload to another. In certain embodiments, a workload may beimplemented to be processed in a virtual machine (VM) environment,familiar to skilled practitioners of the art. In various embodiments, aworkload may be implemented to be processed as a containerized workload,likewise familiar to those of skill in the art.

In certain embodiments, an asset allocation system 126 may beimplemented with an asset resource choreography 428 module and aworkload orchestration 430 module, as described in greater detailherein. In certain embodiments, the asset allocation system 126 may beimplemented to perform a data center asset resource allocationoperation, described in greater detail herein, to determine which datacenter assets within a particular data center monitoring and managementenvironment may be currently allocated to each of a plurality ofworkloads (e.g., original workloads ‘1’ 1002, ‘2’ 1004, and ‘3’ 1006).In certain embodiments, the asset allocation system 126 may likewise beimplemented to perform a data center asset resource allocation operationto determine which data center assets currently allocated to originalworkloads may be underutilized.

Likewise, in certain embodiments, the asset allocation system 126 may beimplemented to determine which of the original workloads may benefitfrom the use of the underutilized data center assets. In certainembodiments, the asset allocation system 126 may be implemented todesignate which underutilized data center assets should be respectivelyallocated to which original workload. In certain embodiments, the assetallocation system 126 may likewise be implemented to generate a targetworkload (e.g., target workloads ‘1’ 1012, ‘2’ 1014, and ‘3’ 1016),respectively corresponding to each original workload.

In certain embodiments, the asset choreography 428 module may beimplemented to perform an asset choreography operation, likewisedescribed in greater detail herein, to allocate thepreviously-identified underutilized data center asset resources to itsdesignated target workload. In certain embodiments, the workloadorchestration 430 module, as described in greater detail herein, maythen be implemented to perform a workload orchestration operation torespectively implement the previously-allocated data center resourcesfor each designated target workload. Once the previously-allocated datacenter resources have been respectively implemented for each targetworkload, the workload orchestration 430 module may likewise beimplemented in certain embodiments to convert each target workload to acorresponding reallocated workload (e.g., reallocated workloads ‘1’1022, ‘2’ 1024, and ‘3’ 1026). In certain embodiments, the assetallocation system 126 may then be implemented to end each originalworkload (e.g., original workloads ‘1’ 1002, ‘2’ 1004, and ‘3’ 1006) andrelease their associated data center asset resources to make themavailable for allocation in the future.

FIG. 11 is a simplified process flow diagram showing the performance ofdata center asset resource reallocation operations implemented inaccordance with an embodiment of the invention. In this embodiment, aplurality of original workloads, described in greater detail herein, areselected in step 1102, followed by an analysis being performed in step1104 to determine which under-utilized data center assets are availablefor reallocation to other workloads. Target workloads, respectivelycorresponding to each of the plurality of original workloads, are thencreated in step 1106.

One or more asset choreography operations, described in greater detailherein, are then performed in step 1108 to reallocate certainunderutilized data center assets to their designated target workloads.One or more workload orchestration operations, likewise described ingreater detail herein, are then performed in step 1110 to implement thereallocated data center asset resources for their designated targetworkloads. Once the reallocated data center assets have been implementedfor their respective target workloads, they are converted intoreallocated workloads in step 1112, as described in greater detailherein. Then, in step 1114, the reallocated data center asset resourcesare used to process the reallocated workload. Thereafter, performance ofthe reallocated workload is monitored in step 1116 to determine whetherits current allocation of data center asset resources should beadjusted. The process is then continued, proceeding with step 1102.

FIG. 12 shows an example screen presentation of a user interface (UI)implemented in accordance with an embodiment of the invention toreallocate data center asset resources to load balance a plurality ofassociated workloads. In this embodiment, a data center monitoring andmanagement console UI 602 is implemented to display a load balanceconsole 1204 window and a load balance configuration 1214 window. Asshown in FIG. 12 , a user may enter a request, such as “I want tobalance some workloads.” into a user request field 1206. In response,the data center monitoring and management console UI 602 may beimplemented to respond with a response, such as “Okay, if you know whichworkloads you want to balance, you can use the configurator. Or I canwalk you through the process and make recommendations on load balancing.What is your preference?” within a console response field 1208.

In certain embodiments, the data center monitoring and managementconsole UI 602 may be implemented to respond with one or more commandbuttons, such as “Self-Configure Load Balancing” 1210 or “ProvideGuidance On Load Balancing” 1212. In this embodiment, the user selectsthe “Self-Configure Load Balancing” 1210 command button through the useof a user gesture, such as a mouse click. As a result, the load balanceconfiguration 1214 window is displayed within the UI 602 of the datacenter monitoring and management console.

As likewise shown in FIG. 12 , the load balance configuration 1214window may be implemented to include a “Choose Which Workloads ToBalance” 1216 sub-window, a “Select Priority” 1218 sub-window, a “Whatdo you want to load balance?” 1220 sub-window, and a “Workload BalancingResults” 1222 sub-window. In this embodiment, the “Choose WhichWorkloads To Balance” 1216 sub-window is implemented to present aplurality of workloads that can be selected for load balancing. As anexample, workloads WL₀₀₃, WL₀₀₆, and WL₀₁₉ have been selected.

In this embodiment, the “Select Workload Balance Priority” 1218sub-window is implemented to present a plurality of priorities that canbe selected for load balancing the workloads selected in the “ChooseWhich Workloads to Balance” 1216 sub-window. As an example, in certainembodiments the priorities may be “Performance,” “Cost Savings,”“Efficiency,” “Energy use,” and so forth. In certain embodiments, thedata center monitoring and management console UI 602 may be implementedto allow the user to select the relative prioritization (e.g., low tohigh) of one workload balance priority to another. For example, as shownin FIG. 12 , “Cost Savings” has the highest priority, followed by“Energy Use,” then “Efficiency,” and finally “Performance.”

Likewise, the “What do you want to load balance?” 1220 sub-window hasbeen implemented in this embodiment to present a plurality of datacenter asset resources to the user for selection. In certainembodiments, the user may select one or more data center resources toselect a preference for which data asset resource is given priority whentwo or more workloads are being balanced. For example, as shown in FIG.12 , the “Compute” data center asset has been selected. Accordingly, inthis example, the utilization of computer processing unit (CPU) cores isgiven preference over memory, storage, and network resources whenworkloads WL₀₀₃, WL₀₀₆, and WL₀₁₉ are being load balanced.

As shown in FIG. 12 , selecting the “Apply” 1220 command button withinthe data center monitoring and management console UI 602 results in theselections made in the “Choose Which Workloads To Balance” 1216sub-window, the “Select Priority” 1218 sub-window, and the “What do youwant to load balance?” 1220 sub-windows being applied. The results ofapplying the selections are then displayed within the “WorkloadBalancing Results” 1222 sub-window. For example, the results displayedwithin the “Workload Balancing Results” 1222 sub-window showsperformance and efficiency of workloads WL₀₀₃, WL₀₀₆, and WL₀₁₉ areunchanged, while a cost savings of 23% and a 20% decrease in energyconsumption is realized.

FIG. 13 shows an example screen presentation of a user interface (UI)implemented in accordance with an embodiment of the invention tographically depict the results of reallocating data center assetresources associated with a plurality of associated workloads. In thisembodiment, a data center monitoring and management console UI 602 isimplemented to display a load balance console 1204 window and a loadbalance optimization 1310 window. As shown in FIG. 13 , the data centermonitoring and management console UI 602 may be implemented to providean alert to a user, such as “Opportunity detected to load balance 3workloads?” within a console alert field 1306. In response, the userselects the “Show Details” 1308 command button through the use of a usergesture, such as a mouse click. As a result, the load balanceoptimization 1310 window is displayed within the UI 602 of the datacenter monitoring and management console.

As likewise shown in FIG. 13 , the load balance optimization 1310 windowmay be implemented to include a “Current Resource Utilization” 1312sub-window, a “Recommended Resource Reallocation” 1316 sub-window, and a“Resource Reallocation Results” 1320 sub-window. In this embodiment, the“Current Resource Utilization” 1312 sub-window is implemented tographically depict the utilization of certain data center assetresources by an associated plurality of workloads, such as workloadsWL₀₀₃, WL₀₀₆, and WL₀₁₉. Likewise, as shown in FIG. 13 , the data centermonitoring and management console UI 602 may be implemented in variousembodiments to provide certain explanatory detail 1314 related tocurrent data asset resource utilization, such as “At 3:00 PM WL₀₁₉ CPUresources are underutilized.”

In this embodiment, the “Recommended Resource Reallocation” 1316sub-window is implemented to graphically depict the recommendedreallocation of certain data center asset resources to an associatedplurality of workloads, such as workloads WL₀₀₃, WL₀₀₆, and WL₀₁₉.Likewise, as shown in FIG. 13 , the data center monitoring andmanagement console UI 602 may be implemented in various embodiments toprovide certain explanatory detail 1318 related to certain data assetreallocation recommendations, such as “Move 30% of WL₀₁₉ CPU resourcesto WL₀₀₃.” As likewise shown in FIG. 13 , selecting the “Apply” 1330command button within the data center monitoring and management consoleUI 602 results in the data center resource reallocation recommendationsdepicted in the “Resource Reallocation Results” 1320 sub-window beingapplied. The results of applying the recommendations are the graphicallydepicted within the “Recommended Resource Reallocation” 1316 sub-window.

FIG. 14 shows a simplified block diagram of a data center monitoring andmanagement console implemented in accordance with an embodiment of theinvention to adaptively manage a service subscription. Skilledpractitioners of the art will be familiar with the concept of cloudservices, which in general refers to certain computing infrastructure,platforms, or software that are hosted by a third-party provider, whoseuse is provided as a service to users through a Wide Area Network (WAN),such as the Internet. Examples of known cloud services include Softwareas a Service (SaaS), Platform as a Service (PaaS), Infrastructure as aService (IaaS), and Datacenter as a Service (DaaS).

Those of skill in the art will likewise be familiar with the concept ofa subscription, which in common usage typically refers to a businessmodel where a user, or an associated organization, engages in anexchange of value with a service provider at regular intervals foraccess to a particular product or service. In practice, such an exchangeof value for a service or product is usually in the form of financialremuneration. For example, a subscriber of a cable television channelmay pay a recurring fee of $6.95 per month for access to certain contentthat is available on the channel.

Accordingly, as used herein, a service subscription broadly refers to acloud-based computing service that offers the use of certain data centerasset resources, described in greater detail herein, on demand, on asubscription basis. In certain embodiments, such data center assetresources may be implemented in a cloud-based data center monitoring andmanagement environment, described in greater detail herein. In certainembodiments, the use of a particular group of data center assetresources may be allocated to one or more workloads on a periodic basis.As used herein, a periodic basis broadly refers to a period of time,such as a year, a quarter, a month, a week, a day, a portion of a day,an hour, and so forth.

In certain embodiments, the provider of the service may allow the userof the service to change the composition of a group of data center assetresources associated with a particular service subscription atparticular point in time in the service subscription's associatedperiodic basis. As an example, the provider of the service may allow theuser of the service to change the composition of the group of datacenter asset resources associated with a particular subscription at theconclusion of the current periodic basis, or prior to the beginning ofthe subsequent periodic basis. In certain embodiments, the provider ofthe service may allow the user of the service to change the compositionof the group of data center asset resources associated with a particularservice subscription on-demand, at any point in time within a particularperiodic basis. In certain embodiments, the provider of the service mayspecify how often the user of the service subscription is allowed tochange the composition of the group of data center asset resourcesassociated with a particular subscription within a particular periodicbasis.

Referring now to FIG. 14 , a data center monitoring and managementconsole 118, described in greater detail herein, may be implemented invarious embodiments to monitor and capture certain service subscriptiondata. In various embodiments, the service subscription data may includecertain subscription parameters 1404, such as the cost of thesubscription, its associated periodic basis, and so forth. In certainembodiments, the service subscription data may likewise includeinformation related to the types of workloads 1406 associated with theservice subscription. Examples of such workloads include a hosted website, a database server, a financial transaction processing platform,and so forth.

Likewise, in certain embodiments, the service subscription data mayinclude the types 1408 of data center asset resources used by theservice subscription to process one or more associated workloads. Forexample, the service subscription data may show that six of a server'sCentral Processing Unit (CPU) cores, thirty two gigabytes (GB) of itsmemory, 500 GB of its storage, and four of its network ports may beallocated to the service subscription and its associated workload, suchas performing certain financial analyses. In various embodiments, theservice subscription data may likewise include certain informationrelated to the firmware (FW) version, operating system (OS) version, andvirtualization 1410 version used in provision of a particular servicesubscription. For example, the service subscription data may show that aserver may be configured to use the most recent firmware available,Linux™ version 5.12.12 for its OS, and VMware™ version ESXi 7.0 for anassociated virtual machine (VM).

In various embodiments, the service subscription data may include theutilization 1412 of certain data center asset resources when processingan associated workload, as described in greater detail herein. Invarious embodiments, the service subscription data may include theutilization 1412 of certain data center asset resources at differentpoints in time when processing an associated workload, as described ingreater detail herein. In certain of these embodiments, such data centerasset resource utilization 1412 data may be iteratively collected overrecurring periods of time, such as by the minute, hourly, daily, weekly,monthly, and so forth.

Likewise, in certain embodiments, such data center asset resourceutilization 1412 data may be collected over a particular period of time,such as the same eight hour period of time each weekday and averaged. Incertain embodiments, such data center asset resource utilization 1412data may be collected over a particular period of time, such as a week,to determine the highest, lowest, and average utilization 1412 of dataasset resources used by a particular service subscription to process aparticular workload. Those of skill in the art will recognize that manysuch embodiments are possible. Accordingly, the foregoing is notintended to limit the spirit, scope, or intent of the invention.

In various embodiments, the data center monitoring and managementconsole 118 may be implemented to use certain service subscription datato perform a data center asset resources utilization 1414 analysis. Incertain embodiments, the data center monitoring and management console118 may be implemented to use the resulting data center asset resourcesutilization 1414 analysis to generate a service subscription assetresources utilization profile 1420.

As used herein, a service subscription asset resources utilizationprofile 1420 broadly refers to a collection of information thatdescribes the utilization of a group of data center asset resourcesallocated to a particular service subscription, and its associatedworkload(s), over a particular period of time, such as its periodicbasis. In certain embodiments, the service subscription asset resourcesutilization profile 1420 may be implemented to show the utilization of agroup of data center asset resources allocated to a particular servicesubscription, and its associated workload(s), at certain intervalswithin a particular period of time, such as its associated periodicbasis. In certain embodiments, the service subscription asset resourcesutilization profile 1420 may be implemented to show theinterrelationship between the service subscriptions parameters 1404, theworkload types 1406 it supports, the data center asset resource types1408 used to process its associated workloads, its data center assetresource FW/OS/virtualization versions 1410, and the historicalutilization 1412 of its associated data center asset resources, or acombination thereof.

In certain embodiments, the data center monitoring and managementconsole 118 may be implemented to use the service subscription assetresources utilization profile 1420 to generate one or more servicesubscription management recommendations 1422. In various embodiments,the service subscription management recommendations 1422 may includerecommendations to add or reduce certain compute resources 1424allocated to one or more workloads associated with the servicesubscription. In various embodiments, the service subscriptionmanagement recommendations 1422 may include recommendations to add orreduce certain memory 1426 resources allocated to one or more workloadsassociated with the service subscription.

In various embodiments, the service subscription managementrecommendations 1422 may include recommendations to add or reducecertain storage 1428 resources allocated to one or more workloadsassociated with the service subscription. In various embodiments, theservice subscription management recommendations 1422 may includerecommendations to add or reduce certain network 1430 resourcesallocated to one or more workloads associated with the servicesubscription. In various embodiments, the service subscriptionmanagement recommendations 1422 may include recommendations to add orreduce certain compute 1424, memory 1426, storage 128, network 130resources, or a combination thereof, allocated to one or more workloadsassociated with the service subscription, at certain points in timewithin a particular periodic basis. In these embodiments, the points intime within a service subscription's periodic basis that are selected,and the method by which they are selected, is a matter of design choice.

In certain embodiments, the data center monitoring and managementconsole 118 may be implemented to use the service subscription assetresources utilization profile 1420 to make a recommendation to move 1432a particular workload associated with a particular service subscriptionto a different service subscription. In various embodiments, the datacenter monitoring and management console 118 may be implemented to usethe service subscription asset resources utilization profile 1420 tomake a recommendation to create a duplicate 1434 of a particularworkload associated with a particular service subscription. In certainof these embodiments, the resulting duplicate 1434 of the workload maythen be associated with either a different, or new, servicesubscription. In certain embodiments, the data center monitoring andmanagement console 118 may be implemented to use the servicesubscription asset resources utilization profile 1420 to make arecommendation to move 1436 data related to a particular workloadassociated with a particular service subscription to a storage resourcethat is faster.

In certain embodiments, the data center monitoring and managementconsole 118 may be implemented to use one or more service subscriptionmanagement recommendations 1422 to generate an adaptive subscriptionmanagement schedule 1440. As used herein, an adaptive subscriptionmanagement schedule 1440 broadly refers to a series of informationprocessing instructions that can be used to adaptively change theallocation of certain data center asset resources to a particularservice subscription, and its associated workload(s), at certain pointsin time, or according to the occurrence of certain operational metrics,or a combination thereof. Accordingly, in various embodiments, anadaptive management schedule 1440 may be implemented to change theallocation of certain data center asset resources to a particularservice subscription, and its associated workload(s), at certain pointsin time, or according to the occurrence of certain operational metrics,or a combination thereof.

As an example, a particular service subscription may be allocated fourCPU cores, 16 GB of memory, 512 GB of storage, and eight network ports,which are used to process an associated workload. In this example, thefour CPU cores consistently show a maximum utilization of forty percent,while the other data center asset resources consistently show a maximumutilization rate of eighty percent. Accordingly, the adaptivesubscription management schedule 1440 may be implemented to reduce theallocation of CPUs to two cores whenever the maximum utilization of thepreviously-allocated four cores is less than forty percent, whilekeeping the allocation of all other data center asset resources thesame. As a result, all data center asset resources would consistentlyshow a maximum rate of eighty percent. To continue the example further,the adaptive subscription management schedule 1440 may further beimplemented to proportionally increase the allocation of all data centerasset resources should their respective utilization consistently exceedninety percent. To continue the example yet further, one additional CPUcore could be adaptively allocated to the service subscription, whilealso increasing memory allocation to 24 MB, storage to 640 GB, andnetwork ports to five.

As another example, a different service subscription may be allocatedthe same four CPU cores, 16 GB of memory, 512 GB of storage, and eightnetwork ports, which are used to process an online retail workload. Inthis example, all of the data center asset resources show a maximumutilization of twenty percent for most of the year. However they show amaximum utilization of eighty percent during the holiday season betweenNovember 1^(st) and January 15^(th) of the following year.

Accordingly, the adaptive subscription management schedule 1440 may beimplemented to keep the current allocation of data center resources thesame during the holiday season, but proportionally reduce the allocationof all data center asset resources by seventy five percent for the restof the year. To continue the example further, the adaptive subscriptionmanagement schedule 1440 may further be implemented to proportionallyincrease the allocation of all data center asset resources beginningNovember 1^(st) of each year, followed by proportionately decreasingtheir allocation beginning January 15^(th) of the following year. Thoseof skill in the art will recognize that many such embodiments andexamples are possible. Accordingly, the foregoing is not intended tolimit the spirit, scope, or intent of the invention.

FIG. 15 is a simplified process flow diagram showing the performance ofadaptive service subscription management operations implemented inaccordance with an embodiment of the invention. In this embodiment, aparticular service subscription is selected in step 502 for management.The selected service subscription's allocated data center assetresource's are then monitored in step 1504 to determine their respectivelevel of utilization. In this embodiment, the method by which aparticular service subscription may be selected for monitoring theutilization of its associated data center asset resources, the method bywhich it is monitored, and the method by which the utilization levels ofits allocated data center asset resources are determined, is a matter ofdesign choice.

The resulting data center asset resource utilization data is thenanalyzed in step 1506, followed by using the results of the analysis instep 1508 to generate a service subscription asset resources utilizationprofile, described in greater detail herein. In turn, as likewisedescribed in greater detail herein, the resulting service subscriptionasset resources utilization profile is then used in step 1510 togenerate one or more service subscription management recommendations.The resulting service subscription management recommendations are thenused in step 1512 to generate an adaptive subscription managementschedule, likewise described in greater detail herein, which in turn isused in step 1514 to adaptively manage the service subscription. Theprocess is then continued, proceeding with step 1502.

FIG. 16 shows an example screen presentation of a user interface (UI)implemented in accordance with an embodiment of the invention toadaptively manage a service subscription. In this embodiment, a datacenter monitoring and management console UI 602 is implemented todisplay a service subscription management console 1604 window and a newservice subscription 1616 window. As shown in FIG. 16 , a user may entera request, such as “I need to order a new service subscription.” into auser request field 1606. In response, the data center monitoring andmanagement console UI 602 may be implemented to respond with a response,such as “Okay, if you know what you need, you can use the servicesubscription order form. Or I can walk you through the process and makerecommendations for your service subscription. What is your preference?”within a console response field 1208.

In certain embodiments, the data center monitoring and managementconsole UI 602 may be implemented to respond with one or more commandbuttons, such as “Self-Configure A New Subscription” 1610 or “ProvideGuidance For A New Subscription” 1612. In this embodiment, the userselects the “Self-Configure A New Subscription” 1610 command buttonthrough the use of a user gesture, such as a mouse click. As a result,the new service subscription 1614 window is displayed within the UI 602of the data center monitoring and management console.

As shown in FIG. 16 , the new service subscription 1614 window may beimplemented to include a “Subscription Resources” 1616 sub-window, an“Adaptation Settings” 1622 sub-window, a “Projected Adaptation Impact”1630 sub-window. In this embodiment, as likewise shown in FIG. 16 , the“Subscription Resources” 1616 sub-window is implemented to receive userinput to select certain data center asset resources 1618, such as“Compute,” “Memory,” “Storage,” and “Network,” and their respectiveconfiguration options 1620, for allocation to the new servicesubscription. Likewise, as shown in FIG. 16 , the “Adaptation Settings”1622 sub-window is implemented to receive user input regarding whetheror not the user wants the new service subscription to be adaptive 1626,as well as which data center asset resources they want to be adaptive1626.

As likewise shown in FIG. 16 , the “Adaptation Settings” 1622 sub-windowis implemented in this embodiment to present a plurality of prioritiesthat can be selected for adaptively managing the service subscription.As an example, in certain embodiments the priorities may be“Performance,” “Cost Savings,” “Efficiency,” “Energy use,” and so forth.In certain embodiments, the data center monitoring and managementconsole UI 602 may be implemented to allow the user to select therelative prioritization (e.g., low to high) of one service subscriptionmanagement priority to another. For example, as shown in FIG. 16 , “CostSavings” has the highest priority, followed by “Energy Use,” then“Efficiency,” and finally “Performance.”

Likewise, as shown in FIG. 16 , the anticipated results of the userinput received in the “Subscription Resources” 1616 and “AdaptationSettings” 1622 are displayed in the “Projected Adaptation Impact” 1630sub-window. For example, the results displayed within the “ProjectedAdaptation Impact” 1630 sub-window shows performance and efficiency areunchanged, while a cost savings of 23% and a 20% decrease in energyconsumption is realized. As shown in FIG. 12 , selecting the “Apply”1632 command button within the data center monitoring and managementconsole UI 602 results in the selections made in the “SubscriptionResources” 1616 and “Adaptation Settings” 1622 sub-windows beingapplied.

As will be appreciated by one skilled in the art, the present inventionmay be embodied as a method, system, or computer program product.Accordingly, embodiments of the invention may be implemented entirely inhardware, entirely in software (including firmware, resident software,micro-code, etc.) or in an embodiment combining software and hardware.These various embodiments may all generally be referred to herein as a“circuit,” “module,” or “system.” Furthermore, the present invention maytake the form of a computer program product on a computer-usable storagemedium having computer-usable program code embodied in the medium.

Any suitable computer usable or computer readable medium may beutilized. The computer-usable or computer-readable medium may be, forexample, but not limited to, an electronic, magnetic, optical,electromagnetic, infrared, or semiconductor system, apparatus, ordevice. More specific examples (a non-exhaustive list) of thecomputer-readable medium would include the following: a portablecomputer diskette, a hard disk, a random access memory (RAM), aread-only memory (ROM), an erasable programmable read-only memory (EPROMor Flash memory), a portable compact disc read-only memory (CD-ROM), anoptical storage device, or a magnetic storage device. In the context ofthis document, a computer-usable or computer-readable medium may be anymedium that can contain, store, communicate, or transport the programfor use by or in connection with the instruction execution system,apparatus, or device.

Computer program code for carrying out operations of the presentinvention may be written in an object oriented programming language suchas Java, Smalltalk, C++ or the like. However, the computer program codefor carrying out operations of the present invention may also be writtenin conventional procedural programming languages, such as the “C”programming language or similar programming languages. The program codemay execute entirely on the user's computer, partly on the user'scomputer, as a stand-alone software package, partly on the user'scomputer and partly on a remote computer or entirely on the remotecomputer or server. In the latter scenario, the remote computer may beconnected to the user's computer through a local area network (LAN) or awide area network (WAN), or the connection may be made to an externalcomputer (for example, through the Internet using an Internet ServiceProvider).

Embodiments of the invention are described with reference to flowchartillustrations and/or block diagrams of methods, apparatus (systems) andcomputer program products according to embodiments of the invention. Itwill be understood that each block of the flowchart illustrations and/orblock diagrams, and combinations of blocks in the flowchartillustrations and/or block diagrams, can be implemented by computerprogram instructions. These computer program instructions may beprovided to a processor of a general purpose computer, special purposecomputer, or other programmable data processing apparatus to produce amachine, such that the instructions, which execute via the processor ofthe computer or other programmable data processing apparatus, createmeans for implementing the functions/acts specified in the flowchartand/or block diagram block or blocks.

These computer program instructions may also be stored in acomputer-readable memory that can direct a computer or otherprogrammable data processing apparatus to function in a particularmanner, such that the instructions stored in the computer-readablememory produce an article of manufacture including instruction meanswhich implement the function/act specified in the flowchart and/or blockdiagram block or blocks.

The computer program instructions may also be loaded onto a computer orother programmable data processing apparatus to cause a series ofoperational steps to be performed on the computer or other programmableapparatus to produce a computer implemented process such that theinstructions which execute on the computer or other programmableapparatus provide steps for implementing the functions/acts specified inthe flowchart and/or block diagram block or blocks.

The present invention is well adapted to attain the advantages mentionedas well as others inherent therein. While the present invention has beendepicted, described, and is defined by reference to particularembodiments of the invention, such references do not imply a limitationon the invention, and no such limitation is to be inferred. Theinvention is capable of considerable modification, alteration, andequivalents in form and function, as will occur to those ordinarilyskilled in the pertinent arts. The depicted and described embodimentsare examples only, and are not exhaustive of the scope of the invention.

Consequently, the invention is intended to be limited only by the spiritand scope of the appended claims, giving full cognizance to equivalentsin all respects.

What is claimed is:
 1. A computer-implementable method for performing adata center monitoring and management operation, comprising: selecting aservice subscription to manage, the service subscription comprising acloud-based computing service that offers use of certain data centerasset resources on a subscription basis, the use of the certain datacenter asset resources being allocated to a designated target workloadof a user of the service subscription; monitoring asset resourceutilization of the service subscription; generating an asset resourcesutilization profile based upon the monitoring asset resource utilizationof the service subscription, the asset resources utilization profiledescribing utilization of a group of data center asset resourcesallocated to a particular service subscription over a particular periodof time; generating an adaptive service subscription managementrecommendation, the generating the adaptive service subscriptionmanagement recommendation using the asset resources utilization profile,the adaptive service subscription management recommendation including arecommendation to add or reduce one or more of compute resources, memoryresources, storage resources and network resources allocated to one ormore workloads associated with the service subscription, the adaptiveservice subscription management recommendation being adaptive to atleast one of over and under utilization of the one or more computeresources by an associated workload; and, managing the servicesubscription based upon the adaptive service management recommendation.2. The method of claim 1, further comprising: presenting a servicesubscription user interface, the service subscription user interfacepresenting the adaptive service management recommendation and enabling auser to manage the service subscription, the service subscription userinterface comprising an adaptation settings window, the adaptationsettings window presenting a plurality of priorities for adaptivelymanaging the service subscription.
 3. The method of claim 1, furthercomprising: analyzing asset resource utilization data of the assetresource utilization of the service subscription; and wherein theadaptive service subscription management recommendation is generatedbased upon the analyzing.
 4. The method of claim 1, further comprising:generating an adaptive subscription management schedule using theadaptive subscription management recommendations; and wherein managingthe service subscription is based upon the adaptive service subscriptionmanagement schedule.
 5. The method of claim 1, wherein the assetresources utilization profile describes utilization of the group of datacenter asset resources allocated to the particular service subscriptionat certain intervals within the particular period of time.
 6. The methodof claim 5, wherein: the asset resources utilization profile shows aninterrelationship between service subscription parameters, supportedworkload types, asset resource types, asset resource software versions,and historical utilization of associated asset resources.
 7. A systemcomprising: a processor; a data bus coupled to the processor; and anon-transitory, computer-readable storage medium embodying computerprogram code, the non-transitory, computer-readable storage medium beingcoupled to the data bus, the computer program code interacting with aplurality of computer operations and comprising instructions executableby the processor and configured for: selecting a service subscription tomanage, the service subscription comprising a cloud-based computingservice that offers use of certain data center asset resources on asubscription basis, the use of the certain data center asset resourcesbeing allocated to a designated target workload of a user of the servicesubscription; monitoring asset resource utilization of the servicesubscription; generating an asset resources utilization profile basedupon the monitoring asset resource utilization of the servicesubscription, the asset resources utilization profile describingutilization of a group of data center asset resources allocated to aparticular service subscription over a particular period of time;generating an adaptive service subscription management recommendation,the generating the adaptive service subscription managementrecommendation using the asset resources utilization profile, theadaptive service subscription management recommendation including arecommendation to add or reduce one or more of compute resources, memoryresources, storage resources and network resources allocated to one ormore workloads associated with the service subscription, the adaptiveservice subscription management recommendation being adaptive to atleast one of over and under utilization of the one or more computeresources by an associated workload; and, managing the servicesubscription based upon the adaptive service management recommendation.8. The system of claim 7, wherein the instructions executable by theprocessor are further configured for: presenting a service subscriptionuser interface, the service subscription user interface presenting theadaptive service management recommendation and enabling a user to managethe service subscription, the service subscription user interfacecomprising an adaptation settings window, the adaptation settings windowpresenting a plurality of priorities for adaptively managing the servicesubscription.
 9. The system of claim 7, wherein the instructionsexecutable by the processor are further configured for: analyzing assetresource utilization data of the asset resource utilization of theservice subscription; and wherein the adaptive service subscriptionmanagement recommendation is generated based upon the analyzing.
 10. Thesystem of claim 7, wherein the instructions executable by the processorare further configured for: generating an adaptive subscriptionmanagement schedule using the adaptive subscription managementrecommendations; and wherein managing the service subscription is basedupon the adaptive service subscription management schedule.
 11. Thesystem of claim 7, wherein: the asset resources utilization profiledescribes utilization of the group of data center asset resourcesallocated to the particular service subscription at certain intervalswithin the particular period of time.
 12. The system of claim 11,wherein: the asset resources utilization profile shows aninterrelationship between service subscription parameters, supportedworkload types, asset resource types, asset resource software versions,and historical utilization of associated asset resources.
 13. Anon-transitory, computer-readable storage medium embodying computerprogram code, the computer program code comprising computer executableinstructions configured for: selecting a service subscription to manage,the service subscription comprising a cloud-based computing service thatoffers use of certain data center asset resources on a subscriptionbasis, the use of the certain data center asset resources beingallocated to a designated target workload of a user of the servicesubscription; monitoring asset resource utilization of the servicesubscription; generating an asset resources utilization profile basedupon the monitoring asset resource utilization of the servicesubscription, the asset resources utilization profile describingutilization of a group of data center asset resources allocated to aarticular service subscription over a particular period of time;generating an adaptive service subscription management recommendation,the generating the adaptive service subscription managementrecommendation using the asset resources utilization profile, theadaptive service subscription management recommendation including arecommendation to add or reduce one or more of compute resources, memoryresources, storage resources and network resources allocated to one ormore workloads associated with the service subscription, the adaptiveservice subscription management recommendation being adaptive to atleast one of over and under utilization of the one or more computeresources by an associated workload; and, managing the servicesubscription based upon the adaptive service management recommendation.14. The non-transitory, computer-readable storage medium of claim 13,wherein the instructions executable by the processor are furtherconfigured for: presenting a service subscription user interface, theservice subscription user interface presenting the adaptive servicemanagement recommendation and enabling a user to manage the servicesubscription, the service subscription user interface comprising anadaptation settings window, the adaptation settings window presenting aplurality of priorities for adaptively managing the servicesubscription.
 15. The non-transitory, computer-readable storage mediumof claim 13, wherein the instructions executable by the processor arefurther configured for: analyzing asset resource utilization data of theasset resource utilization of the service subscription; and wherein theadaptive service subscription management recommendation is generatedbased upon the analyzing.
 16. The non-transitory, computer-readablestorage medium of claim 13, wherein the instructions executable by theprocessor are further configured for: generating an adaptivesubscription management schedule using the adaptive subscriptionmanagement recommendations; and wherein managing the servicesubscription is based upon the adaptive service subscription managementschedule.
 17. The non-transitory, computer-readable storage medium ofclaim 13, wherein the asset resources utilization profile describesutilization of the group of data center asset resources allocated to theparticular service subscription at certain intervals within theparticular period of time.
 18. The non-transitory, computer-readablestorage medium of claim 17, wherein: the asset resources utilizationprofile shows an interrelationship between service subscriptionparameters, supported workload types, asset resource types, assetresource software versions, and historical utilization of associatedasset resources.
 19. The non-transitory, computer-readable storagemedium of claim 13, wherein: the computer executable instructions aredeployable to a client system from a server system at a remote location.20. The non-transitory, computer-readable storage medium of claim 13,wherein: the computer executable instructions are provided by a serviceprovider to a user on an on-demand basis.